DUKE  UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 

Gift  of 

Estate  ofa 
Geo  fig  &  E.  HaAtman 


G.  E.  HARTMAN,  Dean 
BECKLEY  COLLEGE 
BECKLEY,  WEST  VA. 


By  the  Same  Author 

FRONTIERS  OF 
THE  AFTER-LIFE 


On  over  seven  hundred  nights,  covering  a 
period  of  twenty-two  years,  in  my  own  home, 
under  scientific  conditions,  I  talked  voice  to 
voice  with  the  Living  Dead." 

—Edward  C.  Randall 
"Mr.  Randall  presents  with  the  enthu¬ 
siasm  oj  absolute  belief.  Yet  he  warns  ear¬ 
nestly  against  impostures.  Whether  or  not  the 
reader  shares  or  finds  convincing  Mr.  Ran¬ 
dall's  belief,  he  will  not  doubt  his  sincerity. 
Nor  do  his  deductions  clash  materially  with 
the  underlying  truths  of  that  great  law  of 
nature." — The  Boston  Transcript. 


THE  DEAD 
HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


EDWARD  C.  RANDALL 


» 


® 

_  ® 

New  York  •  Alfred  A.  Knopf  *  1925 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/deadhaveneverdie01rand 


FOREWORD 


I  have  had  strange  experiences  in  my  Psychic  in¬ 
vestigations  during  the  last  twenty  years.  Refus¬ 
ing  to  be  limited  by  accepted  laws,  I  have  devoted 
my  thought  to  conditions  prevailing  beyond  what  is 
generally  termed  the  material,  and  by  combining 
and  blending  the  mental  and  vital,  with  the  tan¬ 
gible  or  physical  forces,  I  have  been  able  to  have 
speech  with  those  long  thought  dead.  As  a  result 
I  have  found  an  unknown  country  about  and  be¬ 
yond  this  Earth,  and  I  would  not  go  from  this 
world  of  men  without  leaving  a  record  of  what 
I  have  learned.  We  are  but  custodians  of  knowl¬ 
edge  as  of  wealth,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
one  to  give  to  others  that  which  he  has  acquired, 
whenever  it  will  add  to  human  happiness. 

There  are  certain  people  born  with  what  is 
known  as  “psychic”  force  who,  when  scientifi¬ 
cally  developed,  become  instruments  by  the  aid  of 
which  communication  is  established  between  the 
two  worlds.  Such  was  Emily  S.  French.  She  was 
a  woman  over  80  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her 
death.  Above  the  average  in  intelligence,  she  de- 

vii 


FOREWORD 


viii 

voted  her  life  to  helping  others,  and  as  a  result  her 
character  was  spiritualized  and  refined  so  that  only 
good  could  come  within  her  environment.  I  was 
indeed  fortunate  in  my  association  with  her.  Even 
with  such  help,  however,  it  required  many  years 
of  work  and  experiment  to  obtain  the  exact  condi¬ 
tions  whereby  satisfactory  speech  could  be  had 
with  inhabitants  of  this  unknown  country,  and  from 
them  to  secure  direct  information  of  the  conditions 
prevailing  there.  This,  in  a  measure,  I  have  ac¬ 
complished. 

That  life  continues  beyond  the  grave,  Lombroso, 
Richet,  Sir  William  Crookes,  T.  W.  Stanford,  Wil¬ 
liam  T.  Stead,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, — all  Psychic  Sci¬ 
entists, — and  of  late  Sir  Conan  Doyle,  have  proved 
beyond  question.  My  efforts  have  been  to  dis¬ 
cover  by  what  law  survival  becomes  possible;  to 
learn  something  of  the  death  change,  the  character 
of  individual  life  as  it  continues,  and  the  conditions 
prevailing  beyond  the  earth-plane.  If  the  infor¬ 
mation  that  I  have  obtained  is  reliable,  and  if  my 
deductions  are  correct,  a  discovery  has  been  made 
that  takes  from  the  human  heart  the  awful  fear  of 
death.  No  subject  in  the  world  is  so  important  as 
this,  and  none  is  less  understood. 

In  this  world-beyond  there  are  men  and  women 
just  as  here.  Their  bodies,  Etheric  in  character, 


FOREWORD 


IX 


are  composed  of  matter;  therefore,  they  have  form, 
feature,  and  expression,  neither  less  nor  more  in¬ 
dividual  than  when  they  lived  the  earth-life.  They 
have  homes  as  tangible  to  them  as  our  homes  are  to 
us,  composed  of  Etheric  material  just  as  our  homes 
are  made  of  physical  substances,  and  in  those 
homes  the  family  relation  is  ultimately  continued. 
They  labour  to  increase  their  knowledge,  and 
under  the  great  prevailing  law  in  force  there,  en¬ 
rich  themselves  by  helping  others. 

These  propositions,  far  beyond  human  experi¬ 
ences,  are  not  only  hard  to  explain  but  are  difficult 
to  grasp.  In  the  chapters  that  follow,  I  have  tried 
to  make  the  facts  so  plain  that  all  may  comprehend 
them.  I  have  faithfully  described  some  of  my  ex¬ 
periences,  and  given  in  substance  the  data  as  pre¬ 
sented  to  me.  Are  my  deductions  warranted? 

This  research  has  been  a  source  of  great  pleas¬ 
ure  and  profit  to  me.  In  the  beginning  I  looked 
upon  the  death  change  with  horror.  I  recall  the 
casket  containing  the  mortal  remains  of  my  mother 
lowered  into  a  grave  on  a  bleak  April  day,  the  piti¬ 
less  rain,  the  biting  winds,  the  lowering  clouds. 
After  the  frozen  earth  had  fallen  into  the  open 
grave,  I,  a  boy,  walked  alone,  and  then  and  there 
resolved  that  I  would  never  rest  content  until  I  had 
solved  the  problem  there  presented  and  come  to 


X 


FOREWORD 


know, — if  it  was  given  man  to  learn, — something 
of  that  great  change.  Whether  I  have  succeeded  or 
not  you  must  judge.  I  have,  I  think,  demonstrated 
that  nothing  in  Nature  is  hidden  from  man;  there 
is  no  problem  that  cannot  be  solved;  there  is  no 
condition  that  cannot  be  understood,  provided  that 
we  labour  long  and  earnestly  for  the  goal  desired. 

Again  one  word  to  those  who  mourn.  There  is 
no  death;  there  are  no  dead.  Those  whom  we  love 
and  who  loved  us,  in  obedience  to  the  great  law  of 
evolution,  have  simply  progressed  to  a  new  plane 
of  existence.  Our  eyes  no  longer  behold  them, 
our  hands  and  lips  no  longer  touch  them,  but  their 
eyes  behold  and  their  hands  touch  us,  though  we 
feel  them  not.  They  walk  with  us,  know  our  trials, 
help  us  by  their  mental  suggestions,  and  comfort  us 
by  tender,  loving  thoughts.  Those  who  live  in  the 
Etheric  or  Mental  Plane  are  no  less  real  to  me  than 
those  with  whom  I  walk  from  day  to  day. 

I  have  submitted  this  manuscript  to  a  large 
number  of  advanced  thinkers  both  in  America  and 
in  Europe,  and  the  general  criticism  has  been  that 
it  is  so  in  advance  of  experience,  so  different  from 
the  old  teachings  and  beliefs,  that  few  will  grasp 
or  understand  the  new  propositions  presented. 
This  is  without  doubt  true,  but  the  facts  as  I  have 
gathered  them  cannot  be  changed;  truth  is  infinite. 


FOREWORD 


xi 


Volumes  have  been  written  by  the  world’s  fore¬ 
most  writers  to  prove  the  possibility  of  communica¬ 
tion  between  this  plane  and  the  next,  though  few 
have  been  privileged  to  enjoy  direct  and  independ¬ 
ent  speech  to  the  extent  that  I  have.  Those  who 
read  the  pages  that  I  have  written  must  assume 
that  speech  is  possible  and  that  I  have  had  the  ex¬ 
periences  narrated.  I  do  not  attempt  to  enter  the 
elementary  field;  others  have  covered  that  branch. 
I  have  tried  to  transmit  facts  as  they  have  been 
given  me,  and  I  expect  many  to  accept  them  be¬ 
cause  they  are  in  accordance  with  nature’s  law  and 
appeal  to  reason. 

It  is  a  great  privilege  to  be  evolved  out  of  the 
mass  of  life,  to  obtain  individuality  with  all  its 
possibilities  not  by  a  miracle,  but  through  positive 
law.  But  that  privilege  brings  responsibilities, 
among  them  the  necessity  of  living  a  clean  life, 
of  developing  character  to  the  utmost,  of  doing 
something  to  make  others  happy,  and  of  making  the 
world  a  little  better  because  we  have  lived  a  day 
within  its  confines.  These  things  are  not  difficult 
to  accomplish  if  we  are  unselfish.  To  the  new 
thought,  to  the  progress  of  the  world,  each  may 
give  something.  Great  truths  come  from  the  ob¬ 
scure.  The  night  brings  forth  the  stars. 

Edward  C.  Randall. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  1 
Chapter  2 
Chapter  3 
Chapter  4 
Chapter  5 
Chapter  6 
Chapter  7 
Chapter  8 
Chapter  9 
Chapter  10 
Chapter  11 
Chapter  12 
Chapter  13 
Chapter  14 
Chapter  15 
Chapter  16 
Chapter  17 
Chapter  18 
Chapter  19 


Voices  of  the  Living  Dead  15 
A  Conscious  Dissolution  23 
Speech  with  the  Dead  34 
Told  in  the  After-Life  44 
The  Life  Mass  53 
The  Continuity  of  Life  63 
A  Universe  of  Matter  76 
The  Record  of  a  Night  86 
Atomic  Life  97 
Etheric  Environment  105 
So  Little  Change  116 
Man’s  Etheric  Body  126 
The  Unknown  Land  133 
Personal  Identity  140 
Spheres  in  the  After-Life  149 
Their  Daily  Life  159 
Facts  Well  to  Know  170 
From  Death’s  Sleep  181 
The  Imagination  194 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  20 
Chapter  21 
Chapter  22 
Chapter  23 
Chapter  24 
Chapter  25 
Chapter  26 


Power  of  Suggestion  206 
Never  a  Secret  in  the  World  215 
Mental  Activity  223 
Future  of  a  Child  233 
Actualities  of  the  After-Life  245 
Rational  Deductions  251 
A  Tribute  258 


THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER 
DIED 

CHAPTER  I 

VOICES  OF  THE  LIVING  DEAD 

THE  suggestion  that  the  dead  have  never 
died,  when  so  little  is  known  of  that  great 
change,  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
the  average  mind.  The  fact  that  under  scientific 
conditions  those  in  the  after-life  have  had  speech 
with  us  in  the  earth-life  taxes  credulity,  but  such 
is  the  fact.  Sir  William  Crookes  has  had  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  communicating  with  the  dead  and  has 
written  concerning  it.  Stead’s  bureau  in  London, 
working  with  Mrs.  Weidt,  an  American  psychic, 
has  done  so  with  great  freedom.  For  many  years 
Daniel  Bailey  of  Buffalo  was  able  with  the  aid 
of  Mrs.  Swaine  to  get  the  direct  or  independent 
voice;  he  did  a  great  work  and  has  published  the 
results. 


15 


16  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


I  mention  these  instances  to  show  that  I  am  not 
the  first  who  has  been  able  to  obtain  direct  speech 
with  those  in  the  next  life.  Thousands  in  other 
ways  have  obtained  messages  from  the  great  be¬ 
yond,  but  only  on  rare  occasions  have  conditions 
been  such  that  the  dead  could  speak  audibly.  The 
independent  voice  is  unusual,  but  when  heard,  it 
leaves  nothing  to  conjecture. 

“How  is  it  possible,”  one  asks,  “to  talk  with 
dead  people?” 

I  confess  that  such  a  proposition  is  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  many,  and  that  a  mere  state¬ 
ment  on  the  subject  means  nothing  to  the  aver¬ 
age  individual,  for  one  can  appreciate  only  those 
things  which  he  has  experienced  or  of  which  he  has 
knowledge.  It  is  only  by  understanding  that  the 
spirit  world  is  a  part  of  this  world,  that  it  is  here 
and  about  us,  that  it  is  material,  that  all  life  force 
finds  expression  only  in  the  physical,  and  that  peo¬ 
ple  beyond  the  grave  still  inhabit  their  etheric 
bodies  that  one  can  appreciate  the  fact  that  speech 
with  the  living  dead  is  possible.  Even  with  such 
an  understanding,  it  is  necessary  to  create  certain 
scientific  conditions  if  one  would  actually  converse 
with  those  of  the  spirit  world.  The  conditions 
permitting  speech  are  very  delicate.  The  atmos¬ 
phere  at  times  interferes  with  results.  For  exam- 


VOICES  OF  THE  LIVING  DEAD  17 


pie,  when  the  air  is  agitated  before  a  storm,  it  is 
impossible  to  do  this  work;  hut  on  clear  nights, 
when  the  air  is  quiet,  the  manifestations  are  be¬ 
yond  power  of  description.  Absolute  darkness  is 
necessary  to  enable  me  to  hear  the  direct  speech  of 
those  people  who,  present  in  my  home  in  their  own 
spirit  bodies,  use  their  own  tongues,  and  make 
their  own  voice  vibrations.  To  do  this  work  re¬ 
quires  the  aid  of  a  person  possessed  of  vital  forces 
out  of  the  ordinary.  The  group  of  people  in  the 
next  life  working  with  me  utilized  the  vital  force  of 
Mrs.  Emily  S.  French  in  conjunction  with  their 
own  force,  and  created  a  new  condition  in  which 
the  vibrations  were  slow.  It  was  then  possible  for 
the  spirits  to  so  clothe  their  organs  of  speech 
that  their  words  sounded  in  our  atmosphere.  If  we 
accept  the  hypothesis  that  spirit  people  have  bodies, 
and  that  they  are  around  and  about  us  in  an  in¬ 
visible  world,  it  does  not  require  any  stretch  of 
imagination  to  appreciate  the  possibility  of  speak¬ 
ing  with  those  beyond  the  earth-plane.  When  we 
appreciate  the  fundamental  fact  that  the  Universe 
is  matter  and  that  life  itself  is  matter,  new  possi¬ 
bilities  open  to  us. 

“Tell  us  of  the  conditions  that  enable  you  to 
speak,”  I  asked  one  who  spoke  to  us. 

“There  are  in  our  group,”  the  spirit  replied, 


18  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“seven  people, — all  expert  in  the  handling  of  the 
electric  and  magnetic  forces,  and  when  you  and  the 
psychic,  Mrs.  French,  meet,  the  vital  force  that 
emanates  from  her  personality  is  gathered  up.  We 
also  take  physical  emanations — substances — from 
you  and  the  others  with  you,  while  we  contribute  to 
the  mass  a  certain  spirit  force.  Now,  that  force 
which  we  gather  and  distribute,  is  just  as  material 
as  any  substance  that  you  would  gather  for  any  pur¬ 
pose;  it  is  simply  higher  in  vibration.  We  clothe 
the  organs  of  respiration  of  the  spirit  who  is  to 
speak,  so  that  his  voice  will  sound  in  your  atmos¬ 
phere,  and  when  this  condition  is  brought  about,  it 
is  just  as  natural  for  a  spirit  as  it  is  for  you. 
You  then  have  what  is  known  as  the  direct  or  inde¬ 
pendent  voice,  that  is,  the  voice  of  a  spirit  speaking 
as  in  earth-life.” 

Since  mankind  came  up  out  of  savagery,  the 
great  problem  has  been  and  ever  will  he:  What 
is  the  ultimate  end?  What,  if  anything,  waits  on 
the  other  side  of  death’s  mysterious  door?  What 
happens  when  the  hour  strikes  that  closes  man’s 
earth  career,  when,  leaving  all  the  gathered  wealth 
of  lands  and  goods,  he  goes  out  into  the  dark  alone? 
Is  death  the  end — annihilation  and  repose?  Or, 
does  he  awake  in  some  other  sphere  or  condition, 
retaining  individuality  and  identity? 


VOICES  OF  THE  LIVING  DEAD  19 


Each  must  solve  this  great  question  for  himself. 
Dissolution  and  change  have  come  to  every  form 
of  life,  and  will  come  to  all  that  live.  With  op¬ 
portunity  knocking  at  the  door,  mankind  has  but 
little  more  appreciation  of  it  now  than  it  had  when 
Phallic-worship  swayed  the  destinies  of  empires. 
It  may  be  that,  as  a  people,  our  development  has 
been  such  that  we  could  heretofore  grasp  and  com¬ 
prehend  only  length,  breadth,  and  thickness,  the 
three  accepted  dimensions  of  matter;  that  in  our 
progression  we  have  but  now  become  able  to  ap¬ 
preciate  and  understand  life  forces  that  find  their 
expression  beyond  the  physical  plane. 

Time  was  when  all  knowledge  was  handed  down 
from  one  generation  to  another  by  story,  song,  and 
tradition.  When  the  Persian  civilization  was 
growing  old,  and  ambition  towered  above  the  lofty 
walls  of  Babylon;  when  Egypt  was  building  her 
temples  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile;  when  Greece  was 
the  centre  of  art  and  culture,  and  Rome  with  its 
wealth  and  luxuries  held  sway  over  the  civilized 
world,  people  did  not  dream  of  type  and  the  print¬ 
ing  press,  applied  electricity,  or  navigation  of  the 
air,  and  the  many  inventions  that  were  to  come. 
They  were  not  ready  for  such  progression. 

The  world  cannot  stand  still.  The  great  law  of 
the  universe  is  progress.  Two  or  three  genera- 


20  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


tions  since,  the  idea  that  a  cable  would  one  day  be 
laid  under  the  sea  and  that  messages  would  be 
transmitted  under  the  waters  and  over  the  waters 
from  continent  to  continent,  was  laughed  at  as  a 
chimera.  Only  a  little  while  ago,  the  world  could 
not  understand  how  words  and  sentences  could  be 
flashed  across  the  trackless  ocean  from  ship  to  ship, 
and  from  land  to  land,  without  wires,  in  space. 
And  who  shall  now  say  that  it  is  not  possible  to  send 
thoughts,  words,  sentences,  voices  even,  and  mes¬ 
sages,  out  into  the  ether  of  the  spirit  world,  there 
to  be  heard,  recorded,  and  answered?  Has  man 
reached  the  end  of  his  possibilities;  will  all  pro¬ 
gression  stop  with  Marconi’s  achievements  and 
telephoning  without  wires?  This  is  the  age  of 
man;  we  have  passed  the  age  of  gods.  If  our  de¬ 
velopment  is  such  that  we  can  comprehend  the  life 
and  conditions  following  dissolution,  it  must  be 
within  our  grasp  as  surely  as  progress  has  been 
possible  at  all  times  and  among  all  people  since  the 
world  began. 

Our  age  is  one  of  sudden  and  rapid  changes. 
What  was  true  yesterday  assumes  a  different,  one 
could  almost  say,  a  diametrically  opposite  aspect 
to-day.  Our  people  are  in  a  state  of  transition. 
New  views  come  with  changing  times  and  condi¬ 
tions.  Most  minds  are  sensitive,  alert,  and  versa- 


VOICES  OF  THE  LIVING  DEAD  21 


tile,  and  the  present  is  fraught  with  unrest  and  a 
thirst  for  knowledge.  This  is  a  period  that  will 
be  fruitful  in  scientific  discoveries,  and  in  the 
adaptation  of  the  universal  law  of  vibratory  action. 
We  need  not  be  afraid  of  investigation.  All  truth 
is  safe;  nothing  else  will  suffice,  and  he  who  holds 
back  the  truth,  through  expediency  or  fear,  fails 
in  his  duty  to  mankind. 

Some  have  come  to  know  what  awaits  over  the 
great  divide,  have  solved  the  great  problem  of  dis¬ 
solution,  and  with  the  confidence  bom  of  knowl¬ 
edge,  based  on  facts  proved  and  demonstrated,  are 
ready  to  speak  with  authority.  As  one  among  the 
many,  I  again  give  the  world  the  result  of  my  con¬ 
tinued  research  in  the  new  field  of  psychic  science. 

We  have  looked  upon  the  discarded  physical 
body,  habitation  or  housing,  occupied  by  one  while 
developing  on  the  earth  plane,  and  have  said :  “He 
is  dead;  never  again  will  his  voice  speak  words  of 
tenderness,  his  hands  touch,  or  eyes  look  upon  us, 
nevermore  will  we  know  his  tender  loving  care ;  he 
is  no  more.”  Such  is  the  most  erroneous  conclu¬ 
sion  ever  reached  by  the  human  mind.  When  at 
night  we  lay  aside  our  clothing,  we  are  the  same. 
When  at  the  end  of  a  short  span  we  separate  from 
the  flesh  garment  we  have  worn,  we  are  not  dead. 
We  are  identically  the  same  person,  mentally,  mor- 


22  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ally,  and  spiritually  as  before,  with  the  same 
etheric  body,  with  power  to  think  and  function  as 
in  earth-life.  I  say  with  all  the  strength  and  force 
at  my  command  that  there  is  continuity  of  all  life; 
that  nothing  is  ever  lost;  that  communication  is 
possible,  and  has  been  had  with  those  in  the  after¬ 
life  in  many  ways.  My  effort  has  been  to  create  a 
condition  in  which  it  became  possible  for  spirit 
people  to  clothe  with  physical  substance  their  or¬ 
gans  of  respiration,  so  they  could  talk  to  us  as  when 
in  earth-life.  It  has  been  my  privilege  to  hear 
their  voices,  best  of  all  methods,  hundreds  of  times. 
Thousands  of  individuals  have  spoken,  using  their 
own  vocal  organs,  and  I  have  answered.  From 
this  source  has  come  great  knowledge,  facts  beyond 
the  learning  of  men,  not  found  in  any  books,  and  it 
is  my  privilege  to  give  them  to  you. 

Lay  aside  preconceived  notions,  discard  preju¬ 
dice,  be  fair  and  unafraid,  while  in  simple  lan¬ 
guage,  I  relate  what  has  come  to  me  from  this  won¬ 
derful  source.  If  you  are  not  impressed  with  its 
truth,  discard  it.  If  it  appeals  to  reason,  it  will 
be  a  help  not  only  here  but  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  II 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 

i  ‘'W  ^ES,  I  know  that  I  am  no  longer  an  in- 
habitant  of  the  earth  sphere,  that  I  am 
numbered  among  the  dead;  so  because 
I  thoroughly  understand  the  great  change  through 
which  I  have  passed,  the  group  of  spirit  people 
working  with  you,  and  controlling  conditions  on  this 
side,  have  asked  me  to  speak  to  you,  and  through 
you  to  all  those  who  sorrow  for  their  dead.  You 
know,  of  course,  that  in  speaking  I  am  now  using 
my  own  voice.” 

Out  of  the  silence,  out  of  the  darkness,  in  a  room 
devoted  solely  to  psychic  investigation  came  those 
words;  one  whom  the  world  calls  dead  was  speak¬ 
ing.  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  startled  when  a 
voice  first  speaks  from  the  invisible  world — so  un¬ 
usual,  so  marvellous,  so  wonderful,  and  yet  to  me 
so  natural.  I  know  of  but  two  psychics  who  are 
able  to  contribute  to  conditions  that  make  the  di¬ 
rect  or  independent  voice  possible.  Emily  S. 
French,  who  devoted  to  my  work  the  best  years  of 

her  life,  was  one  of  them,  and  on  this  occasion  she 

23 


24  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


was  alone  with  me  in  the  room  in  my  own  home  de¬ 
voted  solely  to  such  work.  At  this  time  the  condi¬ 
tions  were  such  that  it  was  possible  for  those  out  of 
the  earth  body  to  so  talk  that  their  voices  were  audi¬ 
ble. 

The  public  wants  to  know,  and  I  had  always 
wanted  to  know,  the  sensation  involved  in  the  death 
change,  in  the  awakening;  what  it  is  that  the  eyes 
behold,  or  the  ears  hear  when  first  consciousness 
continues  or  returns.  So  when  this  man  spoke  so 
clearly  and  strongly,  I  determined  to  get  from  one 
who  had  made  the  change  a  comprehensive  state¬ 
ment  of  the  mental  state,  not  only  before  but  after 
the  transition. 

“So  much,”  I  said,  “of  the  information  that  we 
get  from  the  plane  where  you  now  live  is  general 
in  character,  won’t  you  be  specially  specific  and 
tell  us,  first,  something  of  your  occupation  and  of 
the  conditions  immediately  preceding  your  dissolu¬ 
tion?” 

“I  came,”  he  replied,  “from  a  long  line  of  sol¬ 
diers.  My  ancestors  fought  in  the  American  Revo¬ 
lution,  and  were  among  those  who  aided  in  estab¬ 
lishing  your  Republic;  possibly  I  inherited  a  mar¬ 
tial  spirit.  When  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  the 
Confederates,  and  Lincoln  issued  his  call  for  vol¬ 
unteers,  I  was  possessed  with  a  desire  to  enter  the 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 


25 


army.  I  had  a  wife  and  two  children,  to  whom  as 
I  now  know,  I  owed  a  far  greater  duty  than  to  my 
country,  hut  the  speech  of  people,  the  danger  of 
the  nation,  the  condition  of  slavery  prevailing  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  the  preparation  for  war, 
incited  me.  With  forced  words  of  good  cheer,  I 
left  the  brave  wife  and  little  children,  enlisted,  and 
became  a  soldier  of  the  Union. 

“I  will  not  take  the  time  to  tell  you  of  my  life  in 
the  army,  except  to  speak  of  the  nights  in  camp 
when  my  thoughts  went  out  to  those  at  home,  know¬ 
ing  as  I  did  that  funds  were  slowly  diminishing. 
Ever  the  idea  was  dominant  that  the  war  would 
soon  be  over,  then  there  would  be  the  home  com¬ 
ing,  and  the  plans  I  formed  to  make  compensa¬ 
tion  for  my  long  absence  would  come  to  fruition. 
But  the  war  did  not  end  as  battle  after  battle  was 
fought  with  success  first  on  one  side,  then  on  the 
other.  I  participated  in  many,  seeming  to  hear 
a  charmed  life,  for  while  thousands  about  me  fell, 
I  passed  unharmed,  and  so  grew  fearless.” 

“Under  what  circumstances  did  you  meet  your 
end,”  I  asked. 

“It  was  at  Gettysburg,”  he  replied,  “I  can  see 
and  feel  it  all  again  as  my  mind  concentrates  on 
that  tragic  event.  It  was  the  second  day  of  that 
great  fight.  I  was  then  a  colonel  and  commanded 


26  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


a  regiment  in  reserve;  in  front  of  us  the  battle 
roared.  Shot  and  shell  filled  the  air  and  fell  near 
us,  muskets  belched  forth  their  fire,  the  earth 
seemed  to  tremble;  wounded  in  great  numbers  were 
carried  to  the  rear,  and  we  knew  that  countless  dead 
lay  where  they  had  fallen.  We  waited,  knowing 
it  was  only  a  matter  of  hours,  possibly  minutes  be¬ 
fore  the  order  would  come  to  advance.  I  looked 
down  the  line  at  blanched  faces,  we  all  knew  that 
many  would  not  answer  the  roll  call  at  night.  Still 
we  waited.  Suddenly  out  of  the  smoke  galloped  an 
officer  from  the  general’s  staff.  ‘Forward,’  came 
the  command. 

“There  was  no  faltering  now  that  the  hour  had 
come.  The  column  moved.  Soon  shot  and  shell 
fell  among  us,  on  we  went.  All  was  excitement, 
fear  was  gone;  we  had  but  one  desire,  and  that  to 
kill;  such  is  the  lust  of  battle.  I  recall  but  little 
more.  We  reached  the  front  and  saw  the  grey 
line  charging  up  the  hill  toward  us;  then,  oblivion. 
I  now  know  that  I  was  shot.” 

“Tell  me  of  returning  consciousness  and  what 
you  saw,”  I  said. 

“You  must  remember,”  the  spirit  answered, 
“that  these  tragic  events  occurred  nearly  half  a 
century  ago,  and  that  at  that  time  it  had  not  been 
discovered  that  there  is  another  life,  a  plane  as  ma- 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 


27 


terial  as  the  one  you  now  inhabit,  where  life  con¬ 
tinues.  I  had  no  conception  of  a  hereafter,  for 
with  all  my  religious  teaching  I  had  no  idea  of  what 
or  where  the  future  life  might  be;  nor  was  I  at  all 
sure  there  was  one;  so  you  can  imagine  how  startled 
I  was  to  awake  as  from  a  deep  sleep;  bewildered  I 
got  to  my  feet,  and  looking  down  saw  my  body 
among  many  others  upon  the  ground.  This  was 
startling.  I  made  a  great  effort  to  collect  my 
thoughts  and  recall  events.  Then  I  remembered 
the  awful  battle;  still  I  did  not  then  realize  I  had 
been  shot.  I  was  apart  from,  still  I  seemed  in 
some  way,  held  to  the  body  I  had  so  lately  worn. 
My  mental  condition  was  one  of  terrible  unrest. 
How  was  it  I  was  alive,  had  a  body  and  yet  sepa¬ 
rate  and  apart  from  the  covering  I  had  thought 
constituted  the  body. 

“I  tried  to  think  and  realize  my  situation.  I 
looked  about;  others  of  the  seeming  dead  moved, 
seemed  to  stir.  Then  many  of  them  stood  up,  and 
like  me  seemed  to  emerge  from  their  physical 
bodies,  for  their  old  forms  still  lay  upon  the  field. 
I  looked  at  other  prostrate  bodies,  examined  many; 
from  each  something  was  gone.  Going  among  them 
again,  I  found  other  bodies  inhabited,  still  living 
as  you  would  say,  though  wounded  and  uncon¬ 


scious. 


28  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“Soon  I  found  myself  among  thousands  in  a 
similar  mental  state.  Not  one  among  them  knew 
just  what  had  happened.  I  did  not  know  then  as 
I  do  now,  that  I  always  possessed  a  spirit  body  com¬ 
posed  of  a  material  called  Ether,  and  that  the  phys¬ 
ical  body  was  only  the  garment  it  wore  while  in 
earth  life.” 

“What  brought  you  to  the  full  realization  of 
what  had  happened?”  I  asked. 

“I  am  coming  to  that,”  he  said;  “While  the  pass¬ 
ing  out  of  the  old  body  was  without  pain,  it  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  drive  a  strong  spirit  from  a  healthy 
body,  tear  it  from  its  coverings.  It  is  unnatural, 
and  the  sensation  following  readjustment  is  awful. 
In  a  short  time  I  became  easier,  but  I  was  still  be¬ 
wildered.  It  was  neither  night  nor  day;  about  us 
all  was  gloom,  not  a  ray  of  light,  nor  a  star. 
Something  like  an  atmosphere  dark  and  red  envel¬ 
oped  us  all,  and  we  waited  in  fear  and  silence;  we 
seemed  to  feel  one  another’s  thoughts,  or  to  be  more 
correct,  hear  one  another  think.  No  words  were 
spoken.  How  long  we  remained  in  this  state  I 
cannot  now  tell,  for  we  do  not  measure  time  as  you 
do.  Soon  there  was  a  ray  of  light  that  grew 
brighter  each  moment,  and  then  a  great  concourse 
of  men  and  women  with  kindly  faces  came,  and 
with  comforting  words  told  us  not  to  fear;  that  we 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 


29 


had  made  the  great  change;  that  death  so-called 
only  advanced  our  sphere  of  life;  that  we  were 
still  living  beings,  inhabitants  now  of  the  first 
plane  beyond  the  earth;  that  we  would  live  on  for¬ 
ever,  and  by  labour  reach  a  higher  mental  de¬ 
velopment;  that  for  us  the  war  was  over,  we  had 
passed  through  the  valley  of  death. 

“I  will  not  attempt  to  tell  you  of  the  sorrow  that 
came  with  such  realization,  not  for  myself,  for  I 
soon  learned  that  only  through  death  could  we 
progress,  and  that  the  personal  advantages  beyond 
the  physical  were  greater  than  those  in  the  phys¬ 
ical;  it  was  sorrow  for  the  wife  and  the  babies; 
their  great  grief  when  they  learned  what  had  hap¬ 
pened,  bound  me  to  their  condition,  and  we  sor¬ 
rowed  together.  I  could  not  progress  or  find  hap¬ 
piness  until  time  had  healed  their  sorrow.  If  only 
those  in  earth  life  knew  that  their  sadness  binds  and 
holds  us,  stays  our  progress  and  development! 
After  coming  with  the  aid  of  many  friends  to  full 
consciousness,  and  being  able  to  move  at  will,  I 
followed  at  first  the  movements  of  both  armies.  I 
saw  the  route  of  Lee’s  army,  the  final  surrender  at 
Appomattox,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  of  the  great 
effort  the  inhabitants  of  this  land  in  which  I  live 
put  forth,  not  only  to  prevent  war,  but  to  bring 
peace  when  nations  or  people  are  at  war,  for  war 


30  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


has  never  been  right.  No  taking  of  human  life 
is  ever  justifiable. 

“This  is  the  first  time  it  has  been  my  personal 
privilege  to  get  a  message  through  to  the  world 
I  once  inhabited.  It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to 
tell  you  something  of  the  sensations  during  and 
after  the  change.  There  is  one  experience  that  I 
want  to  relate,  for  it  made  a  profound  impression. 
One  day  I  saw  many  people  passing  into  a  build¬ 
ing  having  the  appearance  of  a  great  Temple  of 
Music.  I  was  told  I  could  go  in  if  I  desired — I 
did.  There  were  assembled,  I  should  judge,  five 
thousand  people.  They  sat  with  bowed  heads  in  a 
silence,  so  absolute  that  I  marvelled;  turning  I 
asked  one  beside  me  the  object  of  the  meeting,  and 
I  was  told  they  were  concentrating  their  thoughts, 
sending  out  peace  vibrations  to  nations  at  war.  I 
did  not  comprehend,  but,  curious,  I  waited.  Soon 
above  that  great  company  arose  a  golden  cloud  that 
formed  and  moved  as  if  directed.  Having  learned 
that  I  could  go  at  will,  I  followed  and  found  the 
cloudy  substance  enveloping  another  battle  field. 
Again  a  dark  condition  with  flashes  of  red,  imme¬ 
diately  surrounding  and  above  two  great  armies, 
for  the  thoughts  of  those  in  battle  give  out  emana¬ 
tions  producing  such  effect.  It  had  substantially 
the  same  appearance  that  prevailed  on  my  awaken- 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 


31 


ing.  As  I  watched,  the  dark  condition  seemed  to 
change,  to  dissolve  before  the  peaceful  conditions 
of  the  light  that  I  had  followed,  just  as  mist  dis¬ 
solves  before  the  sun.  With  the  change  a  better 
thought  filled  the  minds  of  those  engaged,  an  in¬ 
clination  to  treat  more  humanly  the  wounded  and 
the  prisoners.  This  is  one  of  the  ways  those  ex¬ 
perienced  among  us  help  the  mental,  as  those  among 
you  aid  the  physical;  both  are  equally  real. 

“Among  us  are  the  great  who  counsel  together 
and  work  to  influence  those  in  authority  against 
war,  while  others  among  us  by  thought  suggestions 
help  and  sustain  those  poor  soldiers  forced  into 
battle,  either  to  satisfy  the  greed,  selfishness,  and 
ambition  of  those  in  authority,  or  to  defend  a  na¬ 
tion  or  the  integrity  of  their  country.  We  know 
neither  the  one  side  nor  the  other.  We  see  only 
the  suffering  of  humanity,  a  mother’s  mourning,  a 
wife’s  heart  breaking,  a  child’s  sobbing.  They 
are  all  human,  and  without  distinction  or  class  we 
labour  to  comfort  and  help  them  by  mental  sug¬ 
gestion.  In  such  work  we  enter  their  homes,  a 
great  invisible  host,  and  many  a  heart  has  been 
cheered  through  our  ministrations.  Other  wars 
will  come,  unless  the  thought  of  those  now  in  au¬ 
thority  changes;  then  a  great  work  will  be  re¬ 
quired  of  us,  for  which  we  are  ready.” 


32  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“This  has  been  exceedingly  interesting,  but  just 
one  word  more.  How  does  your  earth-life  appear, 
after  so  many  years?”  I  asked. 

“How  much  do  you  remember  of  those  first 
years,  when  as  an  infant  you  gazed  upon  your 
world?”  the  man  replied.  “So  it  is  with  me.  I 
have  but  an  indistinct  recollection  of  the  events 
that  made  up  my  earth-life,  only  a  memory  re¬ 
mains,  still  enough  to  make  me  regret  many  lost 
opportunities.  I  was  not  then  a  thinker,  only  a 
drifter;  I  accepted  what  was  told  me  without  ques¬ 
tion;  the  result  was  that  I  did  not  develop  my  men¬ 
tal  faculties.  This  life  offers  such  splendid  ad¬ 
vantages,  my  joy  of  living  in  the  present  is  so 
intense,  that  I  seldom  think  of  the  earth-life  at  all. 
All  the  trials,  sorrows,  and  sufferings  incident  to 
birth  and  the  few  years  in  your  physical  world, 
were  necessary,  and  from  my  present  vantage 
ground  the  matter  of  living  a  few  years  more  or 
less,  the  manner  of  my  going  were  unimportant;  it 
is  all  forgotten  now  in  the  wonderful  reality  about 
me.  As  soon  as  I  came  to  understand  what  death 
was  and  to  what  it  led,  I  immediately  commenced  to 
complete  my  education,  and  build  a  home  for  the 
wife  and  children,  and  I  am  happy  to  tell  you  that 
again  we  dwell  together,  for  they  are  all  here  in  this 
land  of  happiness  and  opportunity.” 


A  CONSCIOUS  DISSOLUTION 


33 


In  the  presence  of  such  an  experience,  listening 
to  an  individual  speaking  from  the  world  beyond, 
telling  of  another,  an  unknown  land,  where  all  the 
so-called  dead  live,  think,  move,  develop,  and  pro¬ 
gress,  the  learned  should  understand  and  compre¬ 
hend  that  three  dimensions  and  five  senses  do  not 
explain  the  conditions  beyond, 

“The  Spring  blew  trumpets  of  color; 

Her  Green  sang  in  my  brain. 

I  saw  a  blind  man  groping 
‘Tap-tap’  with  his  cane; 

I  pitied  him  his  blindness; 

But  can  I  boast  ‘I  see’?; 

Perhaps  there  walks  a  spirit 
Close  by,  who  pities  me, — 

A  spirit  who  hears  me  tapping 
The  five-sensed  cane  of  the  mind, 

Amid  such  unknown  glories 
I  may  be  worse  than  blind.” 


CHAPTER  III 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 

IT  was  in  the  year  1892  that  I  met  Emily  S. 
French.  She  was  a  woman  then  over  60  years 
of  age,  in  delicate  health,  and  very  deaf. 
While  she  was  conscious  that  she  possessed  powers 
out  of  the  ordinary,  she  had  little  more  compre¬ 
hension  than  I  of  that  into  which  the  force  would 
develop.  At  the  suggestion  of  a  number  of 
prominent  citizens,  I  was  asked  to  meet  Mrs. 
French  and  explain,  if  I  could,  the  unusual  phe¬ 
nomena  obtainable. 

In  one  of  our  early  investigations  we  sat  in  a  dark 
room,  three  of  us  forming  a  half  circle,  she  facing 
us.  After  a  time,  seeming  whispers  were  faintly 
heard,  and  the  gentleman  sitting  with  me  insisted 
that  he  recognized  his  wife’s  voice.  It  was  unsatis¬ 
factory  to  me,  but  I  was  interested  and  immediately 
made  an  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  psy¬ 
chic.  Finding  her  of  good  family  and  of  more  than 
ordinary  education,  I  determined  to  know  how  the 

phenomenon  was  produced.  Of  course,  at  that 

34 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 


35 


time  I  could  not  comprehend  the  direct  voice,  nor 
the  possibility  of  speech  with  the  so-called  dead.  I 
was  then  agnostic.  As  I  look  over  the  situation 
now,  I  see  that  I  had  neither  the  experience  nor 
the  ability  to  appreciate  the  facts,  any  more  than 
the  average  reader  of  this  book  can  comprehend 
some  of  the  statements  made  in  it.  I  had  to  learn, 
first,  that  the  after-life  is  etheric,  and  that  people 
take  into  the  after-life  the  same  spirit  body  which 
they  had  in  this  life  divested  of  the  outer  flesh  gar¬ 
ment.  In  those  days  I  did  not  know  that  we  have 
etheric  bodies. 

I  found  in  the  beginning  that  Mrs.  French  stood 
very  much  in  awe  of  the  play  of  this  pyschic  force. 
One  always  fears  things  which  he  does  not  under¬ 
stand,  and  not  understanding  the  unusual  phenom¬ 
ena  present,  she  was  often  veiy  much  afraid.  I  in¬ 
vestigated  far  enough  to  find  that  she  was  possessed 
of  a  vital  force  unknown  to  me..  She  was  just  as 
much  in  the  dark  regarding  it  as  I,  and  just  as  much 
interested.  Accordingly  she  undertook  to  join  me 
in  an  investigation,  to  devote  her  time  without 
money  and  without  price  to  the  mastery  of  that 
force  in  the  hope  that  good  might  come.  Out  of 
that  compact  came  over  twenty  years  of  continued 
work,  and  experiences  which  to  me  seem  worthy 
of  record. 


36  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


It  has  been  said  that  we  have  but  five  senses. 
That  is  to  say,  the  average  individual  has  but  five 
senses  developed;  some  persons,  however,  have 
seven.  To  the  five  accepted  senses  I  add  “psychic 
sight”  and  “psychic  hearing.”  Mrs.  French  pos¬ 
sessed  both  of  those.  At  times  she  could  see  peo¬ 
ple  moving  in  the  after-life,  not  with  her  physical 
eye,  of  course,  but  by  means  of  psychic  sight.  She 
could  perceive  them  so  acutely  that  they  were  just 
as  real  to  her  as  if  an  impression  came  upon  the 
retina.  This  is  true,  because  she  could  see  and 
describe  these  people  in  the  dark  just  as  well  as  in 
the  light.  Again,  she  had  psychic  hearing,  for  I 
have  been  able  on  many  occasions  in  the  broad 
daylight  to  carry  on  conversations  with  persons  out 
of  the  body  (she  repeating  their  words)  as  satis¬ 
factorily  as  if  they  were  still  in  their  physical 
bodies,  and  in  such  talks  I  have  gone  frequently  far 
beyond  the  knowledge  of  the  psychic. 

In  the  beginning  spirit  speech  was  faint  from  the 
sphere  beyond.  I  was  able  to  get  in  touch  with 
only  a  very  ordinary  class  of  spirit  people,  and  I 
often  became  impatient  that  those  I  most  desired 
did  not  come.  I  did  not  then  understand  as  I  now 
do  my  own  limitations,  for  now  I  know  that  in¬ 
struction  was  being  given  me  as  fast  as  I  could 
grasp  it.  When  a  new  fact  was  stated,  the  law 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 


37 


and  the  conditions  making  such  fact  possible  were 
explained.  The  first  propositions  were  very 
simple,  but  as  the  years  rolled  by,  we  made  great 
progress.  We  learned  how  to  form  the  required 
environment;  there  was  a  whisper  and  then  a 
voice;  then  the  voice  took  tone  and  individuality. 
In  course  of  time  those  of  the  group  with  whom  I 
was  accustomed  to  have  speech  were  easily  recog¬ 
nized. 

There  was  one  person  in  particular  with  whom 
from  the  very  first  time  I  worked  with  Mrs.  French 
I  was  desirous  of  talking.  This  was  my  mother 
who  left  this  life  in  1873.  Time  went  on,  and  she 
did  not  come.  Finally  she  requested  me  to  meet 
with  Mrs.  French  under  the  necessary  conditions  on 
May  26,  1896,  saying  that  she  would  come  and  go 
over  many  things  in  which  we  were  mutually  inter¬ 
ested. 

About  ten  o’clock  on  the  appointed  morning  the 
Brown  Building  in  Buffalo,  then  being  repaired, 
collapsed.  The  street  was  full  of  rumors  that 
many  people  had  been  killed.  The  number  was 
put,  I  think,  at  six  or  seven.  Of  course,  there  was 
no  way  of  ascertaining  the  truth  until  the  debris 
could  be  removed  and  this  would  require  many 
days. 

Mrs.  French  and  I  were  scarcely  seated  that 


38  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


evening  when  my  mother  greeted  me  in  her  own  di¬ 
rect  voice,  and  said  with  great  regret  that  owing  to 
the  accident  that  morning  she  must  forego  the  pleas¬ 
ure  of  our  visit  until  a  later  time,  we  could  be  of 
great  help  to  those  whose  lives  had  been  crushed 
out;  they  needed  assistance.  Of  course,  I  readily 
acquiesced  in  the  suggestion.  There  was  perhaps 
ten  minutes  of  silence;  then  a  voice,  choking  and 
coughing,  broke  the  stillness  and  cried, — 

“My  God,  the  building  is  falling,  the  building  is 
falling.  This  way,  this  way.”  The  situation  was 
tense  and  startling.  I  half  rose  to  my  feet.  An¬ 
other  voice  answered  in  a  strange  tongue.  The 
words  were  not  distinguishable,  hut  it  seemed  to  me 
as  if  some  one  was  responding  to  the  first  call, 
which  was  followed  in  a  moment  by  a  woman’s 
voice  crying  out  in  great  fear,  “We  will  all  be 
killed!  Help  me,  help  me.” 

This  was  the  beginning  of  what  we  term  our  mis¬ 
sion  work,  that  is,  helping  to  restore  consciousness 
to  those  who  in  leaving  the  old  body  are  not  readily 
able  to  regain  that  condition.  There  was  then,  aid¬ 
ing  in  this  work,  as  I  have  since  learned,  a  group 
of  seven  spirit  co-workers  who  had  brought  to  us 
these  unfortunate  people  whose  spirit-bodies  had 
been  crushed  out  in  the  fall  of  this  building.  We 
were  to  restore  them  to  a  normal  mental  condition, 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 


39 


and  acting  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  spirit  co¬ 
workers  I  quietly  talked  with  them.  After  a  time 
I  told  them  what  had  occurred  and  brought  them  to 
a  realization  of  their  situation.  Eventually  they 
came  to  understand  that  in  the  fall  of  that  building 
their  spirits  had  been  forced  from  their  physical 
bodies,  and  when  they  came  to  realize  that  in  the 
catastrophe  they  had  gone  out  of  earth-life,  their 
sorrow  was  beyond  words.  One  told  me  on  that 
evening  that  four  people,  namely:  William  P. 
Straub,  George  Metz,  Michael  Schurzke,  a  Pole,  and 
Jennie  M.  Griffin,  a  woman,  had  lost  their  lives  in 
the  fall  of  the  building.  This  was  verified  some 
days  later. 

After  talking  with  me,  voice  to  voice,  they 
realized  that  they  had  gone  through  the  change 
called  death.  Then  their  friends  in  the  after-life 
came,  were  recognized,  and  took  them  and  gave 
them  such  consolation  as  was  possible  under  the 
unfortunate  circumstances. 

I  asked  the  leader  of  the  spirit  group  how  it  was 
that  the  voices  when  first  heard  seemed  so  strained, 
and  speech  so  broken,  why  there  was  so  much 
choking.  He  replied  that  a  person,  crushed  out  of 
the  physical  body  suddenly,  finishes  as  soon  as  con¬ 
sciousness  and  the  mental  condition  are  restored, 
sentences  left  unuttered  when  dissolution  came; 


40  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 

that  in  the  awakening  he  takes  on  the  identical  state 
in  which  he  passed  out. 

After  they  had  gone  Mrs.  French  said: — 

“I  see  behind  you  a  man  probably  fifty-five  or 
more  years  old,  strong  character  I  should  judge, 
who  has  been  listening  to  this  conversation.  He 
is  looking  at  you  with  amazement.  He  does  not 
seem  to  understand.” 

I  said  to  her,  “Does  he  know  me?” 

She  replied,  “He  answers,  ‘Yes’.” 

“Does  he  give  his  name?” 

“No,  not  yet.” 

Of  course,  being  in  absolute  darkness  and  not 
possessing  psychic  sight  or  psychic  hearing,  I  could 
neither  see  nor  hear  him,  but  I  asked, 

“Did  he  reside  in  Buffalo?” 

She  answered,  “No.” 

I  then  inquired  concerning  other  localities,  and 
named  residents  of  a  city  where  I  had  lived  for 
some  years,  asking, 

“Was  he  a  resident  of  that  city?”  and  Mrs. 
French  replied  saying: 

“He  says  that  he  lived  there.” 

Then  I  repeated  the  names  of  many  of  my  ac¬ 
quaintances,  trying  to  identify  the  individual  who 
was  then  present,  with  an  idea  that  I  might  have 
speech  with  him.  Finally  Mrs.  French  said: 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 


41 


“I  see  the  letters  H.  G.  B.” 

I  quickly  recalled  the  individual  described  and 
spoke  his  name.  He  had  been  a  leading  citizen 
of  a  neighboring  city,  a  large  manufacturer.  I  re¬ 
called  many  evenings  spent  at  his  house  with  his 
family,  and  particularly  did  I  recall  his  voice.  On 
Sunday  evenings  he  enjoyed  the  gathering  of  young 
people,  and  at  such  times  there  was  often  singing 
of  popular  songs,  and  many  of  the  old  hymns.  His 
voice  was  unusual,  deep,  resonant,  and  he  sang  very 
well.  It  was  a  voice  which,  having  once  been 
heard,  could  never  be  mistaken.  He  had  been  out 
of  the  body  then  about  five  years.  After  a  little 
time  he  moved  around  apparently  to  the  side  of 
Mrs.  French,  and  greeted  me.  That  deep  mascu¬ 
line  voice  would  have  been  recognized  if  he  had 
not  given  his  name;  there  was  no  mistake.  He 
spoke  my  name  as  familiarly  as  he  ever  did  in 
earth  life,  and  I  greeted  him  as  cordially  as  I  ever 
had  in  his  home. 

I  had  believed  that  this  man  had  led  an  exem¬ 
plary  life,  for  this  was  the  general  impression 
which  prevailed  in  the  community  where  he  re¬ 
sided,  and  I  thought  he,  of  all  men,  would  find  the 
best  conditions  after  dissolution.  However,  he  did 
not  yet  realize  that  he  had  separated  from  his 
physical  body.  He  knew  some  great  change  had 


42  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


taken  place,  but  he  had  absolutely  no  conception 
of  what  it  was,  although  five  years  had  elapsed 
since  it  occurred.  He  told  me  that  his  wife  and 
children  no  longer  recognized  him  in  his  own  home, 
that  he  spoke  to  them,  that  he  called  to  them,  that 
he  got  on  his  knees  and  shrieked  their  names,  but 
he  could  not  apparently  touch  them,  he  could  not 
make  them  realize  his  presence;  they  passed  him 
apathetically.  His  inability  to  make  himself 
known  in  the  home  where  he  had  always  been  the 
dominant  personality,  the  indifference  with  which 
he  was  treated  not  only  by  his  own  family  but  by 
others  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  had  driven 
him  nearly  to  desperation.  He  could  not  under¬ 
stand  the  situation  at  all,  and  he  was  fearful  that 
he  was  verging  on  insanity,  if  not  completely  in¬ 
sane.  All  was  darkness  about  him,  all  things  were 
unnatural,  and  he  had  become  frantic.  It  was  a 
delicate  task  to  bring  this  man  to  a  realization  of 
the  great  change  that  had  taken  place,  because  his 
present  condition  was  so  intensely  real.  He  was  the 
same  man,  he  had  the  same  intellect,  the  same  per¬ 
sonality,  apparently  the  same  body.  Why  should 
he  be  ignored  and  overlooked  by  all  whom  he  had 
known? 

It  was  only  after  many  explanations  that  he  came 
to  a  realizing  sense  that  he  had  left  the  physical 


SPEECH  WITH  THE  DEAD 


43 


world  of  men.  Having  in  mind  the  exemplary  life 
which  he  had  led,  I  told  him  that  I  could  not  under¬ 
stand  why  he  should  find  himself  in  such  a  mental 
state,  and  he  replied  that  he  had  not  lived  the  life 
for  which  he  had  been  given  credit. 

A  member  of  the  spirit  group  present  said: 

“The  wrong  done  in  earth-life  binds  him  to  the 
earth  condition.  While  he  has  left  his  physical 
body,  he  has  not  left  the  earth  and  its  environment, 
and  having  no  knowledge  of  the  great  beyond  to 
which  he  has  journeyed,  he  has  never  progressed  be¬ 
yond  the  earth  plane  where  he  formerly  lived,  and 
he  cannot  comprehend  while  in  that  mental  state 
the  change  that  has  come  to  him.” 

It  appeared  that  he  had  never  left  his  home,  and 
the  narrow  environment  about  it,  but  in  a  half 
awakened,  half  conscious  state  had  wandered  from 
one  to  another  until  by  good  fortune  he  had  been 
told  that  if  he  would  attend  upon  our  work,  he 
would  understand  the  change  that  had  come  into 
his  life.  With  this  unusual  experience  we  said 
“Good  Night”  to  our  group  of  co-workers,  and  I 
walked  homeward  in  deep  thought. 

What  shall  be  said  of  our  civilization  that  teaches 
nothing  of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  after¬ 
life? 


CHAPTER  IV 


TOLD  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 

IF  there  is  one  thing  this  world  ought  to  know, 
does  not  know,  and  wants  to  know,  it  is  the 
process  in  which  and  by  which  an  inhabitant 
of  this  plane  of  consciousness  leaves  the  physical 
body  to  become  an  inhabitant  of  the  next  or  etheric 
plane.  I  speak  of  the  earth  and  the  etheric  plane, 
of  a  here,  and  a  hereafter  that  I  may  be  under¬ 
stood,  but  technically  this,  the  next,  and  all  planes 
of  existence  are  one,  differing  only  in  vibratory 
activity,  or  modes  of  motion.  The  Universe  is  all 
a  part  of  one  stupendous  whole. 

Only  one  who  has  made  the  great  change,  can 
adequately  describe  conditions  under  which  people 
live  in  the  sphere  beyond.  For  many  years  I  have 
been  exchanging  with  other  psychic  scientists  re¬ 
ports  of  conditions  and  lectures  from  this  source. 
T.  W.  Stanford  of  Australia  sent  me  a  communi¬ 
cation  from  the  after-life  received  by  him,  which 
my  group  say  is  a  statement  of  fact,  and,  therefore, 

with  his  permission  I  quote  it  as  follows: 

44 


TOLD  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 


45 


“In  my  weakness  I  became  unconscious  of  all 
around;  but  soon  I  became  conscious  of  several 
things.  I  realized  that  something  that  had  held 
me  down  and  fatally  gripped  me  was  gone.  I 
was  free,  and  in  the  place  of  weakness  and  pain 
and  sickness,  I  had  a  virility  and  a  vigour  which 
I  had  never  known  upon  the  earth  plane.  I  was 
also  aware  that  I  was  in  new  surroundings,  most 
beautiful.  Then  I  became  conscious  that  I  was 
in  the  midst  of  a  company  of  fellow  souls,  whose 
voices  were  filled  with  happiness,  all  welcoming 
me,  and  others  whom  I  had  temporarily  lost  while 
upon  the  earth  plane.  I  then  knew  that  some 
great  change  had  occurred  which  had  taken  from 
me  everything  that  I  had  desired  to  get  rid  of,  or 
some  power,  had  given  to  me  a  delightful  experi¬ 
ence,  which  I  had  often  in  a  measure  imagined, 
but  dared  scarcely  believe  that  it  could  be  possible. 

Surrounded  by  an  innumerable  company,  I  was 
quite  dazzled  with  the  appearance  of  some  who, 
it  was  explained  to  me,  were  exalted  personages. 
Then  there  approached  one  who  seemed  to  be  the 
chief  speaker.  He  said  before  me  was  the  uni¬ 
verse,  that  time  was  for  me  no  more,  that  I  was 
henceforth  an  inhabitant  of  a  new  country.  You 
will  ask  me — was  it  all  pleasant?  Extremely  so. 
How  can  I  illustrate  it  so  that  you  will  understand? 
Have  you  ever  after  taking  a  long  journey  be¬ 
come  extremely  tired  and  weary,  and,  at  last,  at 
the  end  of  much  striving  and  traveling,  come 
to  a  house  of  rest?  How  you  sank  down  upon 


46  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  downy  couch.  Oh,  the  delight  of  it!  With 
no  dreams  to  disturb  your  rest,  you  awoke  like  a 
giant  refreshed!  To  me  it  was  something  like 
that;  although  even  that  is  a  weak  illustration. 
But  that  which  brought  me  greatest  happiness  was 
the  knowledge  that  I  had  gained  what  I  had  once 
believed  I  had  lost.  I  had  health,  strength,  vital¬ 
ity,  friends,  and  relatives  restored  to  me  for  ever¬ 
more. 

I  have  always  been  fond  of  the  beautiful.  I 
have  spent  days,  weeks,  and  months  in  the  picture 
galleries  of  Europe,  looking  at  the  work  of  the 
old  masters.  Many  of  them  lived  hundreds  of 
years  before  I  came  upon  the  earth  plane,  and  yet 
I  seemed  to  have  known  them  all  the  days  of  my 
life.  I  have  dreamed  about  them.  Da  Vinci  had 
always  been  my  companion,  Murillo  a  choice  com¬ 
rade;  for  Giotto  I  had  a  deep,  lasting  friendship. 
I  loved  the  beautiful  In  all  its  forms.  I  loved 
Nature- — the  beautiful  lakes  of  Italy  and  Switzer¬ 
land,  the  glorious  mountains,  the  everlasting  hills. 
My  friends  in  spirit  life  said  to  me,  “come  and  see 
the  House  Beautiful.”  Try  and  understand,  if 
you  can,  that  not  only  are  the  landscapes  spiritual, 
but  so  is  the  beauty  of  all  that  there  is  on  the  other 
side  of  life.  The  physical  Is  only  the  gross  imi¬ 
tation  of  the  spiritual.  There  is  no  tongue  which 
can  describe  the  beauty  of  the  spiritual  realms, 
wherein  are  the  souls  of  those  who  have  just  en¬ 
tered  on  their  progressive  existence — souls  who 
have  striven  to  do  their  best  according  to  their 


TOLD  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 


47 


light.  I  say  that  there  is  no  tongue  that  can  de¬ 
scribe  the  beauties  of  that  land.  Take  the  best 
that  you  have,  and  it  is  poor  in  comparison.  Then 
I  came  next  to  the  spiritual  houses,  and  theie  I 
met  with  more  friends,  more  relatives,  and, 
greater,  grander  still,  with  those  royal  souls  who 
had  been  my  affinities  on  earth — been  companions, 
comrades  of  the  brush  and  palette,  and  others 
whom  I  had  deeply  reverenced  in  my  soul. 

But  I  found  them  much  greater,  grander,  nobler 
than  they  ever  were  in  their  earth  life,  and  I  was 
privileged  to  be  one  of  their  companions.  Still  I 
pressed  onward.  I  came  next  to  a  Rest  House. 
That  will  sound  peculiar.  You  will  say,  how  can 
you  have  rest  houses,  if  you  don’t  know  what  it  is 
to  be  weary?  No,  there  is  no  weariness  like  that 
you  have  experienced  on  earth;  but  there  are  rest 
houses,  where  in  the  spiritual  life  we  may  rest  and 
have  delightful  intercourse  with  our  friends.  In 
the  spiritual  rest  houses,  therefore,  we  entered, 
and  found  there  relatives  and  friends.  Some  were 
not  upon  the  same  plane  of  existence  as  I  was,  but 
they  had  been  permitted  to  come  down  to  my  sphere 
to  meet  me,  so  that  in  effect  I  could  say,  “He  that 
was  dead  is  alive  again,  he  that  was  lost  for  a 
time  is  found.”  And  then  memory — think  of  the 
joy  of  memory!  I  had  carried  personality  and 
memory  into  the  spirit  world,  and  I  compared  the 
existence  in  Rome  with  that  which  I  was  then  en¬ 
joying.  I  tell  you  that  it  was  the  expectancy  of 
what  was  still  to  be  which  gave  me  the  greatest 


48  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


pleasure  and  the  greatest  joy.  There  is  no  joy  on 
earth  like  that  which  is  in  Heaven,  for  it  is  un¬ 
alloyed. 

I  became  conscious  that  I  had  to  do  something, 
and  that  I  should  have  to  work,  and  it  was  a  joy. 
Could  I  be  a  messenger?  I  thought  of  some  on 
the  earth  plane  I  had  loved  so  dearly,  and  remem¬ 
bered  that  they  were  in  spiritual  darkness.  I  in¬ 
quired, —  Where  is  the  Heaven  of  orthodoxy? 
“It  does  not  exist,”  was  the  answer.  Where  is  the 
purgatory  of  which  I  have  been  told  so  often? 
“It  does  not  exist.”  But  my  friends  were  in  dark¬ 
ness,  and  a  yearning  came  that  I  might  go  to  them 
and  tell  them  what  I  knew.  I  wanted  to  say,  “Do 
not  be  mistaken;  there  is  something  better,  brighter, 
grander,  nobler  for  human  souls  than  has  been 
taught  you.  I  was  told  that  I  could  return,  and  be¬ 
came  conscious  that  I  could  communicate  with  those 
still  on  earth  if  I  found  a  certain  channel,  an 
avenue,  an  instrument.  How  could  I  find  it? 
“All  things  are  yours,”  is  the  promise.  There¬ 
fore  I  must  find  the  way  and  the  instrument. 
This  I  did,  and  you  have  helped  me.  That  is  the 
work  which  I  am  doing,  and  it  gives  me  increased 
happiness. 

I  was  told  that  there  were  greater  beauties  of 
the  spiritual  landscape  which  I  had  not  yet  seen, 
and  which  I  could  not  yet  understand,  because  the 
universe  is  illimitable.  There  is  something  over- 
poweringly  grand  in  the  thought  that  you  are  not 
cramped  or  shut  up  in  a  small  space  of  a  few 


TOLD  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 


49 


millions  of  miles.  No,  this  universe  is  vast,  and 
the  field  is  mine  to  explore.  It  became  mine  by 
right.  I  had  worked  for  it,  and  I  had  yet  to  work 
for  it.  Take  special  note  of  that.  I  was  to  work 
and  earn  the  right  to  explore  God’s  dominions,  and 
get  happiness  from  every  place,  state,  and  condi¬ 
tion  of  my  spiritual  existence. 

Do  you  like  grand  architecture:  From  what 
source  do  you  think  that  the  old  Greeks  got  their 
first  designs?  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  were,  no 
doubt,  the  greatest  of  Greek  sculptors.  There  were 
wonderful  architects  in  those  days.  When  I  was 
upon  the  earth  plane,  I  made  a  nine  months’  tour 
of  Greece,  Rome,  and  Sicily  to  make  a  study  of 
the  architecture  of  the  ancients.  I  visited  every 
temple,  whether  in  ruins  or  in  perfect  order,  and 
I  tell  you  they  are  heaps  of  stones,  they  are  ut¬ 
terly  beneath  contempt  compared  with  the  spiritual 
architecture  of  the  homes  and  houses  in  the  spirit 
world.  If  you  have  a  spiritual  body,  there  is  no 
reason  why  you  should  not  have  a  spiritual  house. 
Get  rid  of  the  idea  that  you  are  a  puff  of  wind  in 
the  life  hereafter.  Even  wind  may  be  solidified, 
for  wind  is  atmosphere  in  motion,  and  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  to  solidify  the  atmosphere.  Then  I  came  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  spirit  world.  I  had  never 
previously  believed  or  dreamed  that  these  could 
exist  in  such  beautiful  forms.  To  most  people, 
beauty  of  form  is  a  source  of  joy  and  comfort. 
The  Greeks  and  the  Romans  loved  beauty  of  form, 
and  I  know  that  you  do  likewise.  I  saw  the  most 


50  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


exquisite  forms  as  I  progressed,  and  every  day, 
to  use  language  which  you  will  understand,  I  met 
with  some  that  I  had  previously  known  upon  the 
earth-plane,  and  what  words  can  tell  the  joy  of 
it?  To  some  of  them  I  had  done  little  acts  of 
kindness.  And  let  me  impress  upon  you  that  of 
all  the  pleasure  I  have  received  on  the  spirit  side 
of  life,  the  most  came  from  those  to  whom  I  had 
previously  done  some  act  of  kindness.  If  I  had 
my  earth  life  again,  I  would  spend  every  hour  in 
doing  good — I  would  spend  my  life  in  doing  acts 
of  kindness. 

In  our  spiritual  rest  houses  we  frequently  meet, 
not  only  with  loved  ones,  but  with  those  whom  we 
reverenced  and  adored.  We  make  also  new  ac¬ 
quaintances.  We  get  a  knowledge  of  great  and 
grand  souls,  and  come  in  contact  with  them.  After 
a  time,  I  was  appointed  by  an  Intelligence  to  do  a 
certain  work.  I  was  to  help  others  to  see  the  light, 
and  I  had  permission  to  come  back  to  the  earth 
again.  Then  my  instructor  said,  “That  which  will 
give  you  the  greatest  pleasure,  do.”  Then  I  came 
back. 

I  have  met  with  many  great  and  noble  charac¬ 
ters,  who  lived  upon  the  earth  plane.  I  am  fre¬ 
quently  in  the  companionship  of  those  whom  I 
loved,  and  I  have  never  yet  found  cause  for  of¬ 
fence,  and  never  will.  No  one  has  entered  into 
my  surroundings  who  has  caused  me  a  moment  of 
sadness.  On  the  earth-plane  even  your  best  mo¬ 
ments  are  clouded  because  some  one  in  your  midst 
was  objectionable  to  you;  but  each  one  on  the 


TOLD  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 


51 


spirit  side  has  gravitated  to  a  certain  spiritual 
level.  If  he  be  good,  then  his  spiritual  status 
is  good,  his  affinities  will  be  good,  and  those  who 
come  in  immediate  contact  with  him  will  be  good 
also.  There  will  be  no  one  to  offend. 

So  vast  are  the  realms  or  dominions  of  Nature 
that  in  the  few  years  I  have  been  on  the  spirit  side 
of  life,  I  have  been  able  to  explore  hut  little. 
When  I  have  been  upon  the  etheric  plane  for  some 
billions  of  years  I  shall  perhaps  have  seen  a  little 
of  it.  But  throughout  the  countless  ages  of  eter¬ 
nity  I  shall  be  evolving,  developing,  getting  knowl¬ 
edge  and  light  and  wisdom.  I  shall  become  in 
tune  with  the  Infinite. 

What  there  is  beyond  I  do  not  yet  know.  Even 
on  our  side  of  life  we  are  not  given  more  knowl¬ 
edge  than  we  can  make  use  of  for  the  time  being. 
It  is  all  a  matter  of  progression.  I  have  told  you 
that  we  all  have  to  work.  There  are  no  drones. 
But  it  is  work  that  is  congenial  and  satisfactory; 
it  is  a  labour  of  love.  It  is  appointed  by  a  Higher 
Intelligence;  it  is  given  to  you  to  do;  and  if  you 
do  it,  your  progress  and  happiness  are  assured. 
Realize  that  there  is  no  coercion  on  the  spirit  side 
of  life,  but  the  spiritual  eyes  are  opened  to  their 
responsibility.  They  see  everything  at  a  glance. 
In  the  spirit  side  of  life  you  are  not  left  in  any 
doubt.  You  have  full  knowledge  that  to  obey 
is  better  than  to  sacrifice,  and  to  do  the  will  of  God 
is  to  bring  happiness  in  your  progressive  existence, 
throughout  eternity.  Mothers  have  had  their  chil¬ 
dren  taken  away  by  death,  and  the  bereaved  ones 


52  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


say,  “We  have  lost  our  children.”  You  have  not 
lost  them.  They  may  have  been  lost  from  vision 
for  a  while.  Perhaps  there  are  some  here  to¬ 
night  who  laid  to  rest  in  cold  earth  a  little  form,  a 
sweet  child.  I  do  not  seek  to  stir  up  your  feelings, 
but  you  remember  how  the  burning  tears  came  to 
your  eyes;  you  rebelled  in  your  soul  when  a  child 
was  taken  away.  There  was  an  aching  void  in 
your  heart  and  you  murmured.  That  life  was  only 
taken  and  planted  in  another  garden,  and  when  you 
get  on  the  other  side,  you  will  know  your  child. 
But  not  as  a  babe,  for  all  grow  to  full  spiritual 
stature,  radiant,  glorious  in  immortality,  with  soul 
filled  with  love  for  you,  nevermore  to  part. 

Is  it  not  worth  striving  for?  There  is  no  con¬ 
demnation  to  those  who  are  good,  those  who  are 
living  the  life,  those  who  are  seeking  to  do  that 
which  is  right.  Let  me  tell  you,  that  the  time  is 
coming  when  all  earth  problems,  religions,  and 
theology,  will  pass  away.  Men  are  tired  of  such 
discussions.  They  are  sick  in  their  soul  of  be¬ 
ing  told  to  trust  in  another;  they  cannot  fathom 
the  scheme  or  plan  of  salvation,  but  they  do  know 
that  around  about  them  is  a  world  of  misery,  of  un¬ 
happiness,  of  shortcomings.  It  is  only  the  true 
spiritual  philosophy  which  teaches  man  to  rely 
upon  himself  and  become  his  own  saviour  by  be¬ 
ing  true  to  himself.  There  is  no  religion  higher 
than  truth.  To  serve  God  he  must  serve  man. 
That  pleases  the  Father  and  continues  eternally. 
We  must  become  servants  of  each  other.” 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  LIFE  MASS 

I  HAVE  thought  a  little  and  laboured  long  to 
comprehend  the  economy  of  Nature.  I  have 
found  life  everywhere,  in  trees  and  flowers 
and  growing  grains,  in  rapid  brooks,  and  lazy 
streams,  in  the  wind  sweeping  over  the  hills,  and  at 
rest  in  lonely  places,  in  the  majesty  and  glory  of  the 
dawn  as  the  sun  climbs  the  eastern  sky,  in  the  glow 
of  evening  and  in  the  purple  solitude  of  night.  I 
see  life  seeking  better  expression  and  individual 
growth  in  every  birth,  and  rocked  in  every  cradle. 
I  see  Nature  working  out  its  destiny,  reproducing, 
increasing,  and  developing;  and  in  such  a  presence 
I  know  that  nothing,  not  even  death  itself,  can 
diminish  or  stop  the  eternal  progress  of  a  single 
life,  all  a  part  of  one  stupendous  whole. 

We  speak  of  inert  matter,  but  there  is  no  such 
thing  in  the  Universe.  Matter,  the  expression  and 
language  of  which  we  do  not  understand,  we  term 
inert, — an  error  caused  by  our  lack  of  knowledge. 

Nothing  dead  exists.  We  have  little  knowledge  of 

53 


54  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  very  small,  and  know  nothing  of  the  world  of 
life  forms  invisible  to  the  human  eye, — how  they 
live,  what  they  do,  or  how  they  communicate  with 
one  another. 

There  is  a  query  in  science  as  to  whether  every 
living  thing  is  capable  of  thinking,  and  I  am  free 
to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  wherever  there  is  life, 
there  must  be  thinking.  I  care  not  whether  science 
accept  or  reject  the  theory;  there  is  the  power  of 
intelligent  action  in  every  seed  that  has  a  living 
germ.  The  acorn  has  sense  enough  to  send  its 
rootlets  into  the  earth,  and  its  trunk  and  foliage 
branch  up  into  the  air,  and  select  just  such  ele¬ 
ments  as  will  make  the  oak  tree,  and  reject  such  as 
would  be  proper  only  for  the  beech  tree.  And  the 
grass  has  the  same  kind  of  intelligence  in  choosing 
proper  nourishment  for  itself;  and  the  power  of 
choice  must  involve  the  power  of  thought.  Science 
is  on  the  material  and  rudimental  plane  yet,  and 
has  much  to  ascertain. 

Speaking  of  the  life  mass,  one  in  the  next  life 
has  said: 

“The  basis  of  all  matter  is  electricity;  the  basis 
of  all  electricity,  for  there  are  many  kinds,  is  ether, 
— not  that  ether  which  is  found  in  the  atmosphere, 
but  a  subtle  ether  of  which  men  know  little  or  noth¬ 
ing.  The  basis  of  this  subtle  ether  is  spirit;  there- 


THE  LIFE  MASS 


55 


fore,  all  that  there  is  of  whirling  planets,  of  bril¬ 
liant  constellations,  suns,  moons,  and  satellites,  all 
that  there  is  in  the  physical  Universe  is  ether 
clothed,  in  reality  but  an  expression  of  spirit.  It 
is  the  physical  in  and  through  which  spirit  func¬ 
tions,  and  in  that  way  makes  itself  manifest  to  the 
external  sense.  When  we  once  realize  how  in¬ 
finitely  great  is  the  universe,  how  wondrous,  how 
terrible,  yet  how  beautiful  in  its  simplicity,  a  feel¬ 
ing  not  exactly  of  awe,  but  of  benign  thankfulness 
must  rise  in  our  hearts  at  the  knowledge  that  we 
are  part  of  that  stupendous  system. 

“Until  the  discovery  of  lenses  and  magnifying 
glasses,  man  had  no  idea  of  the  world  around  him. 
He  could  not  scan  the  heavens  by  night,  nor  did  he 
know  anything  of  the  world  in  a  drop  of  water  or 
in  the  ice  gem.  He  knew  nothing  of  atoms,  nor  of 
micro-organisms. 

“If  one  is  interested  in  geology — in  the  various 
rocks  in  the  strata  of  the  earth — let  him  take  the 
hardest  of  these  rocks — basalt — and  in  the  basaltic 
rocks  he  will  find  a  world  of  life.  If  he  gets  far 
away  in  the  polar  seas  at  the  extremes  of  the  earth, 
he  will  there  find  life  also.  Thousands  of  fathoms 
down  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean  there  is  life.  In 
everything  throughout  the  Universe  life  is  found, 
and  the  germs  of  life  are  no  less  in  the  fire  mists! 


56  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Think  of  the  specks  of  protoplasm  floating  in  the 
water.  Look  at  them — examine  them  with  a 
microscope.  Then  realize  that  at  last,  a  long  way 
off  it  is  true,  those  specks  of  protoplasm  develop 
into  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Dante,  Thomas  Paine  or  an 
Ingersoll.  Nature  is  veiy  wonderful! 

“The  atmosphere  that  you  are  breathing  to-night 
contains  organisms.  You  cannot  see  them  with  the 
naked  eye,  and  even  the  most  powerful  lenses  would 
fail  to  disclose  some  of  them  to  you.  There  are 
microbes  floating  in  the  atmosphere,  some  of  which 
produce  disease.  Most  of  them  are  unimportant. 
But  apart  from  the  germs,  there  are  floating 
throughout  this  atmosphere,  life  forms  which  man 
may  never  be  able  to  discover  with  any  instrument 
that  he  may  invent  in  the  future.  Near  to  Mount 
Vesuvius  there  are  a  few  pools  or  small  lakes,  which 
the  internal  fires  round  about  make  very  hot.  If 
to-night  I  could  take  one  drop  from  those  pools  and 
subject  it  to  a  close,  rigid  scrutiny  by  means  of  a 
more  powerful  glass  than  exists,  we  should  find  that 
in  one  drop  of  this  hot  water  there  is  a  world.  We 
should  find  life  there  evolving  and  progressing  to¬ 
wards  perfection.  Again,  we  should  find  in  that 
drop  of  water,  or  it  might  be  in  a  speck  of  earth — 
if  we  had  the  knowledge  and  power,  and  also  the 
sight  of  an  advanced  spirit  to  disintegrate  it — we 


THE  LIFE  MASS 


57 


should  find  that  the  speck  of  matter  branches  away 
into  electric  corpuscles.  Searching  deeper,  we 
should  discover  that  even  the  electricity  of  the  cor¬ 
puscles  is  made  up  of  a  subtle  ether,  impenetrable, 
something  so  rarefied  that  the  sons  of  men  cannot 
by  any  means  discern  it.  Had  we  the  power  and 
the  knowledge  that  we  shall  have  some  day  in  an 
advanced  spiritual  state,  we  should  find  in  the  heart 
of  that  subtle  ether  something  of  wondrous  power 
and  influence — a  continuous  force  which  is  indeed 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

“Therefore,  in  the  physical  we  have  a  universe 
which  at  last  touches  the  spiritual.  In  the  infi¬ 
nitely  great  we  have  a  universe  which  is  controlled, 
inspired,  kept  steady,  so  to  speak,  and  has  its 
foundation,  its  very  existence,  in  that  force  called 
Nature.  And  the  spirit  which  you  yourselves  pos¬ 
sess,  is  an  emanation  from  God.  This  Spirit, 
though  manifest  in  many  ways,  and  through  many 
forms,  is  eternal.  Matter  physical  is  constantly 
changing,  building  up,  disintegrating;  it  is  scattered 
and  reformed  in  the  birth,  the  growth,  the  life,  and 
the  death  of  worlds  innumerable.  There  is,  in 
reality,  no  such  thing  as  death.  Men  enquire  from 
whence  comes  life?  Life  came  from  the  Spirit, 
and  when  the  spirit  passes  through  the  subtle  ether, 
and  the  ether  gets  into  the  coarser  electricity,  it 


58  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


takes  physical  form — gross  matter  is  then  impreg¬ 
nated  with  life.  That  life  never  ceases,  because,  as 
I  have  said,  it  progresses  and  develops  through  the 
physical  and  is  re-absorbed  into  the  Great  Spirit, 
the  Source  of  all  life — light,  and  power,  and  wis¬ 
dom.” 

Another  from  the  great  beyond  has  said : — 

“In  the  whole  universe  right  down  to  the  micro¬ 
scopic  and  beyond,  life  is  found.  There  is  no 
part  of  the  universe  where  there  is  no  life,  nor 
where  creatures  do  not  live  in  companies.  It  is  not 
good  for  man,  or  anything  to  be  alone;  consequently 
all  are  set  in  companies,  and  there  has  been  given 
to  each  individual  a  method  and  a  way  of  under¬ 
standing  every  other  one,  so  that  all  may  be  happy 
in  one  another’s  company.  Some  will  say  that  it 
is  ridiculous  to  speak  of  inanimate  things  in  that 
manner,  but  it  is  only  ignorance  which  so  asserts; 
it  is  inability  to  realize  that  the  Divine  Spirit  of 
God  is  permeating  everything.  Walk  upon  the 
sands  of  the  sea-shore,  examine  the  tiniest  grain;  it 
is  impregnated  with  that  Divine  Spirit  which  keeps 
the  whole  universe  sweet. 

“I  cannot  say  much  concerning  the  manner  of 
communication  that  plants  have,  but  I  know  from 
my  side  of  life  that  they  have  this  power,  and  do 
communicate.  And  the  varieties  of  perfumes,  how 


THE  LIFE  MASS 


59 


are  they  produced,  and  borne  upon  the  breeze? 
The  present  hypothesis  is  that  it  is  through  some 
chemical  atoms.  First,  the  sun  impregnated  the 
plant.  In  the  flower  are  found  chemical  sub¬ 
stances — electrons — which  are  given  off  and  float 
on  the  subtle  ether.  How  do  they  float?  Through 
vibrations.  We  have  been  a  long  time  getting  a 
little  knowledge  about  vibrations,  but  the  processes 
of  Nature  are  carried  on  through  vibrations.  We 
have  thought  it  most  wonderful  to  set  in  motion  elec¬ 
trical  vibrations,  and  convey  to  our  friends  a  mes¬ 
sage  hundreds  of  miles  away.  That  is  but  a  child¬ 
ish  effort,  a  childish  accomplishment  in  comparison 
with  what  goes  on  daily  around  us,  but  of  which  we 
are  ignorant.  Realize  first  that  there  is  the  life 
of  the  plant,  and  there  is  the  life  of  the  animalcule, 
the  life  of  the  insect,  the  life  of  the  animal,  the  life 
of  man,  and  the  life  of  creatures  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  Nature  of  which  most  men  have  no  concep¬ 
tion.  Then  we  come  to  the  Sources  of  all  Life, — 
God.  Cannot  we  understand  that  from  Him  flows 
the  entire  life  of  the  Universe?  When  we  die,  as 
the  expression  is,  though  such  a  thing  does  not  hap¬ 
pen — when  a  dissolution  of  the  material  body  and 
the  spirit  occurs,  what  takes  place  is  this:  there 
is  a  breaking  up  of  a  community — you  and  your 
body  are  a  community  interdependent  on  each 


60  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


other, — and  at  death,  or  dissolution,  a  colony,  a 
company  breaks  up — I  must  for  the  time-being  use 
terms  which  will  be  understood — the  etheric  tenant 
vacates  and  goes  on  to  a  more  glorious,  sublime 
plane.  Paul  said  to  the  Corinthians,  “There  is  a 
natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.”  It 
is  the  earthly  house  of  the  tabernacle  here  which 
dissolves. 

The  companies  of  insects,  and  of  animals, 
though  they  make  war  on  each  other  and  may  exist 
on  each  other,  have  a  language.  They  know  how 
to  communicate,  and  in  a  measure  they  are  depend¬ 
ent  one  upon  the  other.  Is  it  not  amusing  to  hear 
some  people  say  that  man  alone  has  speech,  that  is, 
sound  formed  into  certain  words  and  syllables  and 
sentences  through  the  vocal  organs?  Let  us,  for 
instance,  consider  the  birds.  We  see  them  and 
hear  them  warble  and  sing.  That  is  their  way  of 
expressing  joyousness;  but  that  is  not  their  lan¬ 
guage.  They  have  a  way  in  which  they  communi¬ 
cate  with  each  other  just  as  we  have.  Has  the 
reader  ever  visited  India?  In  the  Burning  Ghaut, 
where  the  Hindoos  and  others  burn  their  dead,  they 
carry  the  bodies  up  a  flight  of  stairs  to  a  high  plat¬ 
form.  The  wood  is  already  prepared,  and  the 
body  is  placed  upon  the  wood.  Look  up  into  the 
heavens,  calm  and  bright,  the  sun  glaring  down, 


THE  LIFE  MASS 


61 


not  a  speck  in  the  sky.  In  two  or  three  minutes 
the  place  will  be  black  with  carrion  birds.  Can  we 
explain  it?  Yes,  away  perched  on  some  high  emi¬ 
nence  or  tree  is  the  sentinel  bird;  perhaps  miles 
away  are  his  fellows.  He  speaks  to  them,  the  senti¬ 
nel  sounds  the  signal,  and  instantly  they  reply  to 
him,  and  fill  the  air.  Most  people  think  that  the 
world  in  which  they  live  is  a  jumble.  I  grant  that 
there  are  things  that  are  abhorrent,  which  we  can¬ 
not  understand — the  mystery  of  pain  and  suffering, 
of  evil,  for  example,  but  I  realize  now  that  out  of 
all  that  is  evil,  will  finally  come  good.  There  is 
no  confusion  or  jumble  in  the  Divine  Order. 
Everything  is  in  its  place,  and  ultimately  it  will  be 
seen  that  in  Nature,  God  has  set  the  solitary  in 
families,  that  His  wondrous  power  is  always  recre¬ 
ating  matter,  and  that  there  is  never  annihilation. 

There  may,  however,  be  change  of  form.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  coral  rocks  on  the  seashore. 
Little  creatures  once  swam  in  the  ocean  in  tiny 
shells;  they  died  in  myriads,  and  the  shells  in  time 
formed  certain  rocks.  Old  forests  fall  in  decay, 
and  the  wisest  man  of  the  20th  century  might 
have  said:  “Show  me  the  wisdom  of  God  in  this?” 
But  to-day  the  coal  formed  from  these  forests  is 
used  to  give  warmth  and  light,  and  all  the  proc¬ 
esses  of  commerce  are  carried  on  through  it. 


62  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


There  is  no  death!  Everything  gives  place  to  new 
forms  of  life. 

And  this  is  the  fact  that  we  must  gather  from 
our  teaching:  that  out  of  the  life  contained  in  the 
mass,  individuality  has  come;  out  of  the  mass  of 
life,  through  Nature’s  process  of  constant  change 
and  refinement,  every  living  creature  that  will  in¬ 
habit  this  globe  in  the  ages  yet  to  come  must  be 
evolved.  The  highest  form  of  life  that  is  evolved 
from  the  mass  is  man — and  to  the  highest,  all  lesser 
forms  contribute.  Mankind  is  the  final  result  of 
evolutionary  action. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 

‘ 1  V  0  the  so-called  dead  actually  live  be- 
■  yond  the  grave?  If  so,  where?  Can 
M.  J  they  communicate  with  us  after  they 
have  left  their  physical  bodies?  Have  conditions 
been  perfected  by  which  they  can  talk  to  those 
living  here,  using  their  own  voice?  Do  their 
words  sound  the  same  in  our  atmosphere  as  they 
did  when  they  inhabited  their  physical  bodies?” 
These  questions  and  many  more  have  often  been 
asked  me.  I  answer,  “Yes” — but  the  abstract  af¬ 
firmative  reply  means  so  little  that  I  propose  to 
give  a  detailed  explanation  of  the  facts.  If  I  can 
explain  the  principle  involved,  the  result  will  be 
understood,  for  the  former  is  a  condition  depend¬ 
ing  upon  the  latter. 

We  were  conducting  our  investigation  as  usual. 
The  room  devoted  to  the  purpose  was  in  intense 
darkness,  as  it  always  was,  and  the  atmospheric 
movement  was  slow.  Mrs.  French,  my  assistant, 
the  most  perfect  psychic  then  living,  was  with  me. 

63 


64  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


In  the  darkness  appeared  points  of  non-luminous 
light,  constantly  in  motion,  cloudy,  etheric  sub¬ 
stance,  half-form,  which  moved  with  an  effect  of  a 
cool  wind  blowing  across  one’s  face  and  hands,  as 
it  passed  and  repassed.  A  strong  influence  seemed 
to  take  some  vital  force  from  me. 

From  years  of  similar  experience  I  knew  that 
aiding  us  was  a  group  of  workers  in  the  after-life, 
who  were  creating  conditions  by  which  it  would  be 
possible  for  them,  and  those  whom  they  would 
bring,  to  converse  with  us;  that  etheric  and  physical 
matter  were  being  transformed  into  a  state  in  which 
they  could  be  used  to  clothe  the  vocal  organs  of 
spirit  people. 

“Do  spirit  people  have  bodies?”  is  a  question 
frequently  asked.  My  answer  is  that  they  have, 
and  when  in  this  world,  it  is  clothed  with  a  flesh 
garment.  In  the  change  the  etheric  body  discards 
the  flesh  covering,  but  that  act  does  not  destroy  the 
individual,  or  his  etheric  body,  or  his  organs  of 
speech,  or  change  them  in  any  way.  The  flesh  cov¬ 
ering  of  man’s  etheric  body  makes  possible  exist¬ 
ence  in  the  physical  world.  Similarly,  the  absence 
of  the  flesh  garment  makes  possible  his  existence 
in  the  spirit  world.  It  is  only  by  again  clothing 
organs  of  speech  with  matter  slow  in  vibration 
that  the  words  of  inhabitants  of  the  etheric  world 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 


65 


may  sound  in  our  atmosphere,  and  after  this  has 
been  done,  an  individual  in  the  after-life  has  no 
more  difficulty  in  speaking  than  he  had  when  in  the 
earth-life.  These  were  the  conditions  being  ar¬ 
ranged  on  the  evening  which  I  am  about  to  de¬ 
scribe. 

As  we  waited,  every  faculty  was  alert.  Though 
I  had  had  the  same  experience  upon  hundreds  of 
previous  occasions,  yet  each  occasion  seemed 
more  interesting  and  different  from  the  one  pre¬ 
ceding.  I  had  long  since  ceased  to  demand  tests, 
or  to  insist  on  the  coming  of  any  particular  in¬ 
dividual.  I  asked  for  knowledge,  and  any  one 
who  was  in  a  position  to  give  that  would,  I  knew, 
talk;  so  with  patient  expectation  we  waited,  con¬ 
versing  easily,  filling  the  room  with  voice  vibra¬ 
tions.  Who  out  of  the  great  beyond  could  take 
on  the  physical  condition  which  would  make  con¬ 
versation  possible? 

There  was  absolute  silence,  save  for  a  slight 
movement  as  of  soft  garments,  a  moment  of  ex¬ 
pectancy  as  we  awaited  the  greeting  of  those  from 
the  great  beyond — was  there  ever  a  situation  more 
intensely  interesting? 

“Good  evening,  Mr.  Randall.  I  am  glad  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  greeting  Mrs.  French  again.” 
The  voice  was  clear  and  distinct.  “I  have  been 


66  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


asked  to  tell  you  something  of  the  conditions  that 
make  speech  possible. 

“First  of  all,”  he  continued,  “I  know  that  to 
your  physical  eyes  all  is  in  intense  darkness. 
With  us,  however,  who  no  longer  live  subject  to 
physicial  vibrations,  there  is  light,  but  not  the  light 
of  your  day.  To  us  in  the  etheric  world,  who  are 
not  bound  by  earth  conditions,  all  is  light — a  state 
far  different  from  the  light  you  know.  In  our  light 
the  physical  is  visible,  and  through  it  we  pass  as 
easily  as  atoms  pass  through  your  solids,  and  here 
let  me  say,  as  we  have  often  said  before,  our 
etheric  bodies  are  just  as  perfect  as  when  we  in¬ 
habited  physical  garments  in  the  earth  plane,  or  as 
your  bodies  are  to-night.  When  compared  to 
yours,  our  bodies  appear  transparent,  and  all  things 
in  this  life  appear  more  transparent  than  did  things 
in  the  earth  plane,  but  they  are  more  real  to  us  than 
things  physical  are  to  you,  because  more  intense. 
It  is  difficult,  I  know,  with  all  you  have  been  told, 
to  comprehend  matter,  except  it  be  tangible — but  to 
continue  my  account  of  the  work  being  done  here. 

“From  Mrs.  French’s  brain  project  magnetic 
lines  of  force,  to  me  perfectly  visible,  extending  to 
a  point  just  over  the  table  between  you,  while  over 
your  head  appears  a  bar  of  light  from  which  other 
lines  of  force  reach  out,  meeting  those  first  de- 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 


67 


scribed,  under  which  there  appears  to  be  a  cup  into 
which  the  magnetic  and  electric  forces  so  taken  are 
gathered.  These  substances,  etheric  in  character, 
are  by  chemists,  skilled  in  such  work,  manipulated 
to  clothe  my  organs  of  speech;  otherwise  the  sound 
of  my  voice  would  not  fall  upon  your  ears.  All 
psychics  possess  a  peculiar  vital  force  that  is  used 
by  us;  otherwise  they  would  not  be  psychics,  and 
when  I  speak  to  you  I  am  for  the  moment  really  an 
inhabitant  of  your  world,  just  as  for  the  moment 
you  are  in  touch  with  the  after-life.  In  the  con¬ 
ditions  prevailing  at  this  moment,  there  is  no  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  so-called  two  worlds; 
we  are  both  in  the  same  room,  actually  within  a 
few  feet  of  each  other;  both  have  bodies;  for  the 
moment,  you  sit  in  a  chair,  while  I  stand,  and  each 
hears  the  other’s  words.  If  I  could  gather  just  a 
little  more  strength,  I  could  touch  you.” 

“Just  a  moment,”  I  interrupted,  “won’t  you  take 
my  hand  in  order  that  I  may  feel  the  tangibility  of 
an  etheric  body,  re-clothed  for  the  moment?” 

“I  will  try,”  was  the  answer.  “Wait.” 

Then  in  the  darkness  I  held  one  hand  to  my 
right,  while  across  the  table  at  right  angles  my  left 
held  firmly  both  hands  of  my  assistant.  This  was 
in  a  room  in  my  own  residence;  all  light  was  ex¬ 
cluded,  and  we  were  alone.  Soon  a  hand  took 


68  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


mine;  there  was  no  groping.  I  took  the  hand  meet¬ 
ing  my  own  firmly,  feeling  the  form  and  outline. 
It  was  warm,  and  perfectly  natural  in  all  respects 
with  one  exception;  although  it  rested  easily,  yet  it 
seemed  to  move  and  to  vibrate  beyond  any  descrip¬ 
tion  I  can  give.  As  my  hand  closed,  the  other  hand 
seemed  to  dissolve.  No  word  was  uttered  during 
that  particular  time.  Then  the  gentleman  speak¬ 
ing  from  a  point  very  near  his  former  position, 
said: 

“We  do  not  like  to  use  the  material  that  we  have 
gathered  with  such  great  effort  for  physical  demon¬ 
strations,  for  so  much  can  be  accomplished  in  other 
ways.  Do  you  know  there  is  no  place  in  the  world 
to-day  where  such  work  can  be  done,  as  in  your 
home  to-night?  I  mean  that  working  with  Mrs. 
French  and  you  so  long,  we  have  overcome  many 
crude  conditions,  and  have  reached  such  a  state  of 
perfection  that  many  of  those  in  an  advanced  plane 
can  enter,  can  teach  laws  and  explain  conditions 
unknown  among  men,  touching  the  very  foundation 
of  the  physical.  Then  again,  working  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  you,  we  bring  many  persons  into  that 
quasi-physical,  quasi-etheric  condition  which  is 
necessary  to  restore  them  to  a  conscious  state. 
We  do  a  work  that  is  being  accomplished  in 
no  other  place;  here  the  physical  and  the  etheric 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 


69 


force  blend  as  one,  and  here  many  of  the  dead, 
so-called,  are  awakened  in  the  conditions  created. 
We  shall  always  feel  the  obligations  we  owe  you, 
for  with  your  aid  we  have  helped  very,  very  many 
in  the  years  gone  by,  the  extent  of  which  you  have 
little  idea.” 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  physical  vibra¬ 
tions,  working  in  conjunction  with  the  etheric  are 
necessary  to  create  a  condition  where  some  in  the 
after-life  may  be  roused  from  an  unconscious  state. 
If  this  be  so 

“Earth  needs  Heaven,  but  Heaven  indeed 
Of  Earth  has  just  as  great  a  need.” 

“We  can  help  you,  and  you  can  help  us  in  so 
many  ways,”  he  said. 

“How  do  our  physical  bodies  appear  to  you  to¬ 
night?”  I  inquired. 

“Your  bodies,  I  now  speak  of  the  flesh  cover¬ 
ing,”  he  said,  “may  be  likened  to  a  lighted  pump¬ 
kin  on  Hallowe’en  night.  Some  give  out  more 
light  than  others,  depending  on  the  development  and 
refinement  of  the  life  force.  Generally  speaking, 
a  physical  covering  appears  dark,  some  darker  than 
others.  The  life  force  in  many  is  fine,  in  others 
undeveloped;  there  is  as  much  difference  as  in  the 
arc  light  and  the  candle. 


70  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“Your  brain.”  be  continued,  “appears  to  me  like 
a  fine  machine  in  constant  motion.  As  suggestions 
both  spirit  and  physical,  through  movement  of  mat¬ 
ter  reach  you,  they  pass  into  the  brain  machine,  are 
fashioned  and  changed,  then  flow  out  in  new  form, 
and  we  of  this  world  not  only  see  them  enter  but 
we  see  them  emerge.  All  in  the  world  is  substance 
and  all  is  life;  they  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  for 
life  has  never  existed  and  never  can  exist  without 
substance;  form  cannot  be  without  matter;  so  in 
this  way  we  illustrate  how  important  it  is  to  keep 
the  thought,  the  output  of  the  brain  clean,  and  men 
and  women  will  keep  it  clean  when  they  come  to 
know  that  it  is  visible.  But  I  am  transgressing; 
there  are  others  who  would  speak — good  night.” 

“I  have  waited,”  the  voice  of  a  woman  then  said, 
“so  long  for  just  the  conditions  to  prevail  that 
would  enable  me  to  speak.  To-night,  while  the 
gentleman  was  addressing  you,  I  was  told  by  those 
having  the  work  in  charge  that  I  might  try.  I  was 
asked  to  stand  to  the  right  of  the  table  that  sepa¬ 
rates  the  psychic  from  you.  This  I  did  when  the 
chemist  of  the  spirit  group  took  from  the  cup  in 
which  it  had  been  gathered,  a  substance  slow  in  vi¬ 
bration  and  precipitated  the  material  around  and 
about  my  organs  of  speech.  I  touched  my  mouth 
and  moved  my  tongue,  both  seemed  in  a  way  dif- 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 


71 


ferent,  but  their  use  was  not  modified,  and  when  I 
spoke  to  you  I  realized  that  my  voice  sounded  the 
same  as  it  did  before  I  left  your  world. 

“My  passing  out  of  the  old  body  was  so  delight¬ 
ful,  so  different  from  what  I  had  expected,  and  the 
plane  in  which  I  now  live  is  so  wonderful  that  I 
have  long  been  anxious  to  give  to  your  world  a  de¬ 
scription  of  my  going  and  of  what  awaited  me.  I 
now  see  that  I  lived  a  fairly  good  life.  As  occa¬ 
sion  presented,  I  did  what  little  I  could  to  make 
those  about  me  happier,  helped  those  less  fortunate 
as  opportunity  offered,  and  tried  to  do  right.  I 
had  no  knowledge  of  what  followed  the  earth-life, 
but  I  always  had  an  abiding  faith  that  if  people 
invariably  did  the  best  they  could,  all  would  be 
well,  and  I  was  not  disappointed. 

“In  my  last  illness,  as  the  hour  of  dissolution 
approached,  I  felt  no  fear.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
I  was  about  to  make  a  natural  change,  and  that  in 
some  place  I  should  live  on  in  the  companionship 
of  those  who  had  preceded  me.  There  came  over 
me  a  weakness  that  I  cannot  describe;  I  seemed  to 
sleep.  With  great  effort  I  aroused  my  faculties, 
and  plainly  saw  members  of  my  household,  some 
kneeling  about  the  bed  sobbing.  I  wanted  to  speak 
to  them,  but  found  I  was  unable  to  articulate. 
Looking  again  I  was  for  a  moment  startled,  for  I 


72  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


saw  many  faces  of  spirit  people  smiling.  Look¬ 
ing  once  more,  I  saw  beside  my  bed  my  dear  hus¬ 
band,  whose  face  was  full  of  tenderness,  and  who 
took  my  hand  speaking  words  of  welcome.  Others 
whom  I  now  know  help  on  such  occasions,  gathered 
about  me,  their  hands  under  my  poor  physical 
body,  encouraging  me,  and  telling  me  all  was  well. 
Soon,  without  any  effort  on  my  part,  for  I  was  far 
too  weak  to  make  an  effort,  I  seemed  to  be  lifted 
above  and  out  of  my  old  body,  and  stood  among  the 
others  referred  to,  startled  at  the  reality. 

“I  turned  and  saw  the  old  flesh  body,  white  and 
still,  and  heard  the  cry  of  anguish  as  the  physician 
said,  ‘She  is  dead.’  I  wanted  to  speak  to  the  loved 
ones  who  mourned,  and  tell  them,  as  I  do  now  that 
I  was  not  dead,  but  conscious  and  living.  I  was 
informed,  however,  that  my  words  would  fall  upon 
deaf  ears,  and  that  in  my  present  disturbed  mental 
state  the  wisest  course  would  be  for  me  to  go  with 
my  husband  to  a  rest  house  for  a  little  time,  until 
I  should  grow  accustomed  to  the  change.  Later,  I 
was  told,  I  should  be  shown  the  beauty  of  the  after¬ 
life,  and  in  good  season  should  come  again  into 
the  house  of  mourning.  I  was  not  for  one  mo¬ 
ment  unconscious  in  passing  from  one  world  to  the 
other. 

“Many  of  those  who  had  preceded  me  into  the 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE 


73 


after-life,  who  came  to  help  in  the  change,  went 
with  us  to  the  house  of  rest;  there  was  great  joy 
among  them,  but  my  heart  was  filled  with  sorrow, 
for  many  dear  ones  left  in  your  world  needed  a 
mother’s  care.  I  could  not  at  that  time  comprehend 
the  wisdom  of  the  infinite,  or  realize  that  each 
change  in  Nature  means  progress.  I  will  not  un¬ 
dertake,”  she  continued,  “to  describe  the  joy  of 
meeting  with  those  who  had  preceded  me,  or  of  the 
coming  and  going  of  friends  and  acquaintances. 
Their  good  cheer  and  happiness  were  a  great  com¬ 
fort,  but  my  thoughts  were  ever  with  those  in  the 
old  life  who  grieved  so  much.  I  felt  that  I  must 
go  and  tell  them,  but  I  was  informed  that  the  time 
was  not  opportune,  for  they  were  without  knowl¬ 
edge.  Further,  I  was  assured  that  both  they  and  I 
must  learn  many  things  before  help  would  be  pos¬ 
sible,  except  by  suggestion,  and  that  I  should  be  in¬ 
structed  in  good  time. 

“What  impressed  me  most  after  a  period  of  rest, 
and  my  faculties  had  become  alert,  was  the  reality 
of  all  things.  I  looked  at  my  own  body,  which 
seemed  as  tangible  as  before  the  change,  although 
it  had  perhaps  a  more  etheric  appearance.  I 
stood  upon  my  feet,  and  moved  my  legs,  arms,  and 
head;  my  senses  of  touch,  smell,  and  sight  were 
more  acute;  I  spoke  to  those  about  me,  and  they 


74  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


answered;  I  looked  over  a  valley  and  saw  running 
brooks,  and  lakes,  trees,  grass,  and  flowers  of  many 
kinds.  I  took  long  deep  breaths  of  wonderfully 
vitalizing  air,  and  as  the  new  conditions  dawned 
upon  me,  I  turned  to  those  about  me  questioningly. 

“  T  do  not  understand,’  I  said. 

“  ‘No,’  they  answered,  ‘as  you  have  never  been 
taught  anything  concerning  this  life,  how  could  you 
understand?  But  let  us  tell  you  one  fact:  the  life 
you  have  now  entered  is  just  as  material  as  the 
one  you  have  left.  Stop  for  a  moment  and  realize 
that  truth.  Moreover,  everything  in  the  earth- 
plane  is  only  a  poor  imitation  of  a  part  of  what  ex¬ 
ists  in  this  plane.’ 

“  ‘Did  it  never  strike  you  as  absurd,’  a  spirit 
said,  ‘that  houses,  trees,  flowers,  and  all  animal  life 
should  be  limited  to  the  physical  plane;  such  a 
proposition  must  assume  that  the  universe  is  limited 
to  the  earth  planet?’ 

“  ‘I  could  not  grasp  the  suggestion,’  I  said,  and 
I  asked  that  I  might  rest  for  a  while.  Turning  my 
head,  I  saw  the  smiling  face  of  my  husband  beck¬ 
oning,  and  I  went  with  him  with  confidence,  as  in 
the  days  of  youth. 

“I  am  weary  now,”  she  said,  “the  material 
seems  to  be  falling  from  my  lips  and  throat;  there 
is  so  much  that  I  want  to  say;  I  will  come  again.” 


THE  CONTINUITY  OF  LIFE  75 

Her  strength  was  exhausted,  with  the  experience 
half  told. 

“You  have  said  that  in  the  world  of  spirit,  you 
have  lands  and  waters,  lakes  and  rivers,  trees  and 
shrubs,  vines  and  flowers;  tell  us  of  them  in  lan¬ 
guage  we  may  comprehend,”  I  said  to  another 
spirit  who  greeted  us. 

“In  the  first  place,”  he  answered,  “you  must 
disabuse  your  mind  of  the  idea  that  nothing  ex¬ 
isted  before  your  poor  earth-planet  came  into  be¬ 
ing,  or  that  nothing  exists  beyond  the  physical. 
The  truth  is  that  all  things  which  in  the  ages  have 
found  expression  on  the  earth-plane,  have  existed 
in  the  etheric  world  since  the  beginning.  There 
were  rivers  flowing  down  from  mountains,  and 
lakes  in  the  valleys  among  the  hills,  and  lands  and 
trees  and  embracing  vines,  and  flowers  long  before 
this  planet  was  fertile,  and  now  only  a  few  of  the 
wonderful  things  of  our  plane  are  able  to  find 
expression  in  yours.  Then  again,  there  is  much 
vegetation  developing  in  our  etheric  material  that 
the  earth  in  its  crude  state  cannot  clothe,  and  your 
inability  to  comprehend  vegetation  beyond  or  out¬ 
side  the  earth  lies  in  the  fact  that  you  have  hereto¬ 
fore  had  an  erroneous  idea  that  all  life  originated 
in  the  physical.” 


CHAPTER  VII 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 

A  JUST  and  full  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  the  Universe  is  composed  of  Mat¬ 
ter  in  varying  degrees  of  activity  is  a 
condition  precedent  to  a  true  comprehension  of 
the  great  problem  of  life.  Through  it  we  can  un¬ 
derstand  dissolution  and  learn  something  of  the 
conditions  prevailing  beyond  the  physical. 

The  suggestion  that  the  whole  Universe  is  Ma¬ 
terial,  and  the  different  spheres  are,  in  fact,  sub¬ 
stance  with  varying  vibration  and  intensity,  and 
that  individual  life  continues  in  those  different 
planes  similar  to  life  in  our  plane,  is  startling,  but 
no  more  so  than  the  advancement  of  the  Coper- 
nican  theory,  or  the  discovery  of  the  law  of  grav¬ 
itation.  It  took  hundreds  of  years  for  the  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  the  first  proposition,  and  upon  the 
enunciation  of  the  second  the  jealous  ones  said  that 
the  grand  laws  of  universal  gravitation  deduced  by 
Newton  were  false.  Much  time  will  necessarily 

elapse  before  the  following  propositions  are  ac- 

76 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 


77 


cepted,  that  the  whole  Universe  is  material,  and 
that  all  space  is  filled  and  peopled.  The  reason 
for  this  delay  is  that  man’s  mental  process  is 
slow,  and  a  new  discovery  is  only  accepted  finally 
after  repeated  demonstration. 

It  is  an  axiom  in  physics  that  matter  only  acts 
on  matter,  so  if  mind  acts  on  matter,  mind  itself 
must  be  matter.  One  experiences  great  difficulty 
in  approaching  a  fact  so  new — there  is  difficulty 
in  finding  words  with  which  to  express  the  proposi¬ 
tion  in  simple  language.  Words  are  as  limited  as 
knowledge  on  the  subject;  so  when  we  go  beyond 
the  beaten  path,  we  must  give  new  meaning  to  old 
words  or  invent  new  ones.  Matter,  as  that  term 
has  been  heretofore  understood,  is  confined  sub¬ 
stantially  to  things  tangible  and  physical.  This  is 
too  limited  a  use,  for  if  the  universe  is  material, 
matter  does  not  cease  to  be  when  it  ceases  to  be 
tangible. 

I  would  put  the  facts  in  this  way: 

(a)  Matter  slow  in  action  is  subject  to  the  law 
of  gravitation,  and  therefore  physical. 

(b)  Matter  so  rapid  in  vibration  as  not  to  be 
subject  to  the  law  of  gravitation  is  etheric. 

Matter  when  it  ceases  to  be  physical  is  only 
changed  in  density.  Certain  forms  of  matter  may 
be  changed  by  chemical  action  and  advanced  to 


78  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  spiritual  state;  then  by  the  reduction  of  atomic 
motion  the  same  matter  may  be  restored  again  to 
its  former  condition,  to  hold  once  more  physical 
expression.  Mind  is  matter  raised  to  its  highest 
degree  of  atomic  activity  when  it  holds  within  itself 
inherent  power  of  intelligent  direction.  Every 
atom,  every  electron  and  molecule  has  form,  and 
when  those  atoms,  electrons,  and  molecules,  by 
attraction,  are  so  closely  drawn  together  as  to  be¬ 
come  tangible,  they  still  have  individual  form. 
When  by  Nature’s  process  they  are  advanced  step 
by  step  until  they  become  etheric,  they  still  have 
form;  the  mind  which  is  etheric  has  form,  is  sub¬ 
stance;  it  is  real,  and  its  creations  take  definite 
shape.  Mind  acts  on  matter,  as  we  use  the 
homely  phrase;  that  is  to  say,  matter  raised  to  its 
highest  degree  of  activity  utilizes  the  tangible  sub¬ 
stances  necessary  to  give  physical  expression. 
This  is  demonstrated  in  each  individual,  for  the 
mind  directs  the  body,  and  the  physical  body  obeys 
the  will  of  the  spirit. 

When  the  statement  is  made  that  life  continues 
beyond  the  grave,  the  average  thinking  man  doubts 
it.  When  the  suggestion  is  put  forth  that  we  have 
now  and  here  a  spirit  body,  which  in  dissolution 
only  separates  from  the  physical,  the  assertion  is 
not  understood.  When  the  statement  is  put  forth 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 


79 


that  there  is  continuity  of  this  life,  and  that  spirit 
people  have  bodies,  live  in  a  material  universe,  and 
have  homes  similar  to  our  own,  the  words  mean 
nothing  to  the  average  person,  for  such  conditions 
are  beyond  comprehension. 

In  order  that  these  propositions  may  be  under¬ 
stood,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  the  conditions 
which  make  such  a  state  possible;  we  must  know 
the  law  through  which  life  holds  continuity. 
Therefore,  a  just  and  true  comprehension  of  the 
following  facts  is  essential,  there  is  a  material  uni¬ 
verse  beyond  the  physical;  there  is  an  etheric  uni¬ 
verse  within  and  outside  the  physical;  and  the  en¬ 
tire  universe  is  composed  of  matter  in  different 
states  of  vibration  or  modes  of  motion.  These 
truths  must  be  understood  before  a  single  indi¬ 
vidual  can  comprehend  the  continuity  of  life — 
that  the  so-called  dead  have  bodies,  form,  feature, 
and  expression,  and  that  they  live  on  intelligently 
in  a  world  as  material  as  this,  continuing  their 
progression.  Everything  that  possesses  the  prop¬ 
erty  of  gravitation  or  attraction  is  classed  as  mat¬ 
ter.  That  is  the  most  scientific  definition  of  mat¬ 
ter  given  by  people  in  the  world  beyond  this. 
Matter  is  either  solid,  liquid,  or  gaseous.  If  solid, 
it  is  strongly  cohesive.  If  liquid,  less  so.  If 
gaseous,  the  atoms  may  be  said  to  bump  against 


80  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


each  other  and  rebound.  Molecules  are  made  up 
of  several  atoms.  For  instance,  a  molecule  of 
water  is  composed  of  three  atoms,  two  of  hydrogen 
and  one  of  oxygen.  Atoms  are  smaller  particles 
of  matter,  possessed  of  forces  so  wonderful  that 
it  is  utterly  impossible  to  trace  them  down  and 
examine  them,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  con¬ 
tinually  changing,  so  rapid  is  their  passage  through 
the  atmosphere. 

There  is  much  the  scientists  do  not  know  about 
atoms.  About  two  hundred  miles  above  this  earth 
plane  extends  what  we  call  atmosphere  at  which 
distance  it  becomes  very  rare.  What  then  extends 
throughout  the  universe,  throughout  the  solar  sys¬ 
tem — throughout  all  solar  systems?  There  exists 
something  which  is  not  like  the  earth’s  atmosphere, 
which  is  called  Ether,  through  which,  with  vibrat¬ 
ing  undulating  motion,  come  waves  of  light,  ulti¬ 
mately  reaching  the  earth  plane,  giving  not  only 
light  but  life.  These  countless  atoms  are  in  con¬ 
stant  motion,  passing  through  the  Ether,  with  wave¬ 
like  undulatory  motion,  having  perfect  form,  with 
individual  likes  and  dislikes.  They  have  in¬ 
telligence,  are  drawn  together,  or  there  is  no  af¬ 
finity,  for  through  affinity  there  is  cohesion.  Co¬ 
hesion  among  the  atoms,  when  slow,  becomes  phys¬ 
ical  and  visible.  That  cohesion  may  be  among 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 


81 


etheric  atoms,  where  the  vibration  of  the  mass  is 
so  rapid  that  it  has  to  us  no  visibility.  The 
cohesion  of  atoms  is  not  confined  to  the  physical 
world,  for,  through  the  universal  law,  these  atoms 
find  expression  not  only  in  but  beyond  the  physical. 
The  two  planes  of  consciousness  are  closely  inter¬ 
woven.  The  same  law  that  governs  and  controls 
and  directs  the  one,  governs  and  controls  and  di¬ 
rects  the  other.  It  is  only,  therefore,  through  the 
law  that  we  are  able  to  advance  out  of  the  physi¬ 
cal. 

Every  atom  has  force,  and  force  wherever 
found  or  however  expressed  is  life,  and  every  atom 
has  heat — heat  so  intense  that  all  the  furnaces  of 
this  earth  could  not  reproduce  it.  This  Ether, 
this  subtile  substance  permeates  all  things  physi¬ 
cal. 

One  of  the  great  impediments  to  our  realization 
of  spirit  presence  and  activity  is  our  inability  to 
conceive  force  and  matter  in  their  more  refined 
forms  not  manifest  to  the  physical  senses  or  sus¬ 
ceptible  to  touch  or  vision.  Yet  all  the  greatest 
forces  are  unseen.  Electricity,  magnetism,  and 
steam  are  only  cognizable  to  our  vision  by  their 
occasional  manifestation  of  light  and  colour,  or 
through  the  vapour  produced  by  the  latter  when  it 
meets  with  the  atmosphere. 


82  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Changing  the  vibratory  condition  or  density  of 
water  by  heat  illustrates  in  a  simple  way  the  prop¬ 
osition  herein  stated.  You  take  a  basin  of  water 
and  put  a  fire  under  it;  it  commences  to  bubble, 
its  motion  increases,  its  vibration  is  raised;  it 
changes  to  steam.  By  confining  that  steam,  and 
applying  more  heat,  super-heated  steam,  which  in 
itself  is  invisible,  results.  This  passes  from  our 
vision,  but  is  not  lost  or  destroyed,  for  by  another 
process  we  can  restore  it  to  its  original  state. 
Again,  the  sun  causes  evaporation  of  the  waters; 
they  pass  and  become  etheric  and  a  part  of  the 
world — invisible,  but  through  Nature’s  process  of 
condensation  they  fall  again  as  rain.  By  that 
process  the  water  did  not  cease  to  be,  but  by  that 
change  it  ceased  to  be  visible.  While  invisible, 
its  density  was  changed,  its  vibration  slowed,  and 
it  became  once  more  subject  to  the  laws  of  gravi¬ 
tation. 

Again,  every  atom  that  forms  the  mass  has  not 
only  form,  but  energy,  and  force,  which  is  life. 
Life  may  be  so  low  as  to  be  beyond  our  apprecia¬ 
tion,  or  its  development  may  be  so  high  as  to  be 
equally  beyond  our  comprehension.  In  the  co¬ 
hesion  of  the  atoms  through  their  affinity  and  their 
development,  we  find  the  varied  expressions  of 
life.  Evolution  is  a  constant  force,  an  inherent 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 


83 


desire  for  development,  and  that  great  law  influ¬ 
ences  every  form  of  life.  It  is  not  confined  to  the 
physical,  but  acts  upon  the  grosser  substances,  and 
through  it  they  develop  and  increase. 

The  Universe  did  not  commence  with  the  birth 
of  this  planet;  its  birth  was  not  the  commencement 
of  creation.  Our  dissolution  will  not  end  our  in¬ 
dividuality.  There  is  around  and  about  us  a  great 
universal  force  that  we  characterize  as  Good.  That 
force  is  a  reality,  a  substance  composed  of  mat¬ 
ter,  developed  beyond  the  physical,  and  in  every 
instance  where  an  atom  of  that  force  is  clothed 
with  grosser  material,  Nature  increases  its  sum 
total.  We  do  not  have  to  go  beyond  the  physical 
universe  to  see  spirit  activity.  We  never  see  any¬ 
thing  else. 

At  the  instant  of  man’s  conception,  an  etheric 
atom  becomes  clothed.  It  takes  on  through  Na¬ 
ture’s  process,  a  flesh  garment.  The  sensitive 
spirit  body,  like  the  seed  sown  in  the  soil,  com¬ 
mences  its  development  in  the  dark,  where  it  grows 
and  increases  in  form  and  stature.  The  flesh  gar¬ 
ment  is  correspondingly  increased,  and  at  such 
times  as  it  becomes  able  to  withstand  the  light  there 
is  a  natural  birth.  The  process  of  growth  that 
commenced  at  the  moment  of  conception  is  con¬ 
tinuous,  it  attracts  other  atoms  slow  in  vibration, 


84  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


it  organizes  the  physical  body  so  that  the  flesh  gar¬ 
ment  may  increase  for  its  uses  and  purposes. 
Further,  the  outer  garment  wastes  from  hour  to 
hour,  day  to  day,  and  week  to  week,  completely 
changing  once  in  every  few  years.  But  the  in¬ 
dividual  having  form,  feature,  and  expression  does 
not  change  except  to  increase  mentally  and  physi¬ 
cally. 

If  the  whole  Universe  is  composed  of  matter, 
man  both  spiritual  and  physical,  is  not  an  excep¬ 
tion  to  the  universal  law.  The  physical  eye  can¬ 
not  see  the  etheric  spirit  in  the  body,  nor  can  it 
see  the  spirit  out  of  the  body.  If  the  spirit  in  the 
earth  life  is  not  composed  of  matter,  how  would 
it  he  possible  to  hold  form,  feature,  and  expres¬ 
sion?  This  is  the  keynote  to  understanding,  for 
with  a  comprehension  of  that  proposition  we  can 
appreciate  what  dissolution  is,  and  we  may  finally 
understand  that  every  plane  in  which  we  live  is  a 
reality,  and  composed  of  matter. 

Within  certain  vibratory  action,  matter  is  phys¬ 
ical,  tangible,  and  visible,  and  subject  to  the  law 
of  gravitation.  When  vibration  is  increased  be¬ 
yond  that  point,  we  are  in  the  domain  of  spirit 
where  one  is  not  subject  to  the  laws  of  gravitation. 
The  line  of  demarcation,  therefore,  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  physical  is  that  point  where  the 


A  UNIVERSE  OF  MATTER 


85 


law  of  gravitation  ceases  to  have  influence.  The 
whole  spirit  world,  as  well  as  the  life  force  that 
functions  in  the  tangible  in  this  world  is  made  up 
of  etheric  matter,  as  distinguished  from  physical 
matter.  When  the  gross  matter  is  refined  to  a 
certain  point,  it  becomes  and  ever  remains  Ether, 
but  all  is  matter  technically  in  different  modes  of 
motion,  or  in  different  states  of  vibration. 

This  proposition  is  so  new  in  physics,  so  beyond 
the  experience  of  men,  that  it  is  difficult  to  grasp, 
but  it  can  and  will  be  understood  through  the  re¬ 
search  of  the  physicist  who  without  fear  of  the 
criticisms  of  our  world  calls  to  his  aid  those  few 
psychics  who  have  developed  the  sixth  and  seventh 
senses,  and  are  able  to  see  and  hear  what  is  said 
and  done  in  the  world  beyond  this — or  who,  as  I 
have  done,  have  created  a  condition  where  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  the  place  beyond  can  speak  to  us  voice 
to  voice. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 

AGAIN  a  night  of  experimental  work.  As 
I  closed  the  shutters,  the  stars  shone  with 
unusual  brilliancy.  The  atmospheric 
conditions  were  perfect — clear,  cold,  dry,  and 
still.  As  I  shut  out  the  light,  seating  myself  op¬ 
posite  Mrs.  French,  clouds  within  the  room  for  a 
moment  seemed  to  form  and  roll  like  smoke  from 
a  great  fire.  Soon  they  passed  away,  and  non- 
luminous  points  of  light  became  apparent  and 
slowly  floated.  Then  there  appeared  above  my 
head  the  ribbon  or  bar  of  magnetic  substance  that 
is  always  present  when  the  conditions  are  right  for 
speech  with  those  beyond.  Mrs.  French  through 
her  psychic  sight  saw  a  great  number  of  people 
passing  and  repassing,  while  chemists  manipulated 
the  etheric  and  physical  material  into  the  exact 
condition  for  use  in  speech. 

While  waiting  for  the  work  to  begin,  I  recall 
trying  to  fix  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 

two  worlds.  In  a  moment  I  should  hear  the  voices 

86 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 


87 


of  those  actually  living  in  another  plane,  and  they 
would  hear  mine.  I  should  speak  to  them  and  they 
to  me.  They  would  see  me  perfectly,  though  I 
could  not  see  them.  Sight  is  about  the  only  quality 
possessed  by  spirit  people  in  the  conditions  pre¬ 
vailing  which  is  denied  me.  After  a  moment’s 
reflection  I  realized  the  limitation  of  our  sight  at 
all  times.  Such  situations  make  one  think  deeply. 

“Good  evening,  Mr.  Randall.”  A  deep  mascu¬ 
line  voice  broke  the  stillness.  It  was  not  the  voice 
of  Mrs.  French,  nor  were  her  vocal  organs  of 
speech  used  by  another.  She  being  deaf,  often 
failed  to  hear  the  voices  of  spirit  people  and  spoke 
while  others  were  speaking,  such  interruption 
sometimes  causing  confusion.  “We  have,”  the  voice 
of  one  of  the  directors  of  our  group  continued,  “a 
great  work  to  do  to-night,  and  as  atmospheric  con¬ 
ditions  are  unusual,  we  have  gathered  a  great 
throng  in  substantially  the  same  mental  attitude, 
and  have  brought  them  here  for  help.  You  have 
done  this  work  so  long  that  you,  of  course,  under¬ 
stand  that  these  people  do  not  as  yet  know  that 
they  have  separated  from  their  old  physical  bodies 
and  are  no  longer  inhabitants  of  Earth.  Won’t 
you  talk  to  them?  They  are  living  so  much  in 
your  plane  as  yet  that  you  can  secure  and  hold 
their  attention  more  closely  than  we  can.” 


88  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 

This  was  not  a  new  experience.  My  records 
show  upwards  of  700  nights  when  this  particular 
character  of  work  had  been  done.  As  requested, 
I  commenced  to  talk  easily  and  naturally.  I 
could  not  see,  but  Mrs.  French  could  always  see 
spirit  people  gather  about  listening,  and  some 
would  come  close  watching  me  intently,  while 
others  would  discuss  among  themselves  softly  so 
as  not  to  interrupt  my  talk;  they  were  evidently 
trying  to  comprehend  the  situation.  I  had  long 
ago  learned  that  those  whom  we  were  endeavour¬ 
ing  to  help  must  not  be  startled  or  frightened,  as 
such  shock  would  break  the  conditions  that  enabled 
them  to  speak;  and  therefore  on  this  night  I  dis¬ 
cussed  generally  the  unusual  situations  presented 
at  this  particular  meeting,  leading  slowly  up  to  the 
great  change  that  had  taken  place.  Had  I  bluntly 
told  those  assembled  that  they  were  all  dead,  the 
shock  would  probably  have  ended  the  work  for  the 
night.  I  have  often  known  this  to  occur. 

It  had  been  my  observation  that  some  man 
among  those  assembled  could  take  on  material  that 
would  enable  him  to  talk,  and  in  that  manner  rivet 
the  attention  of  all  those  who  listened,  and  this 
night  was  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

“I  have,”  a  strong  voice  remarked,  “been  deeply 
impressed  with  what  you  have  said,  but  I  do  not 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 


89 


comprehend  its  import.  Death  is  a  subject  that 
I  did  not  like  to  think  about;  people  generally  give 
the  subject  little  if  any  attention,  and  of  course 
enter  the  next  life  ignorantly.  I  am  afraid  I  am 
no  exception  to  the  rule.  If  I  am  to  infer  that 
such  a  change  has  come  into  my  life,  I  am  wholly 
unprepared.” 

“Tell  me,”  I  answered,  “what  you  now  observe, 
for  I  assume  your  vision  is  clear.” 

“For  sometime  I  have  been  watching  the  prepara¬ 
tions  being  made.  Substance  appearing  like  bars 
of  light  about  you  and  the  lady  opposite  was  being 
worked  and  woven  into  place.  Then  I  looked 
about  and  saw  a  great  company  gathered.  One  of 
those  who  seemed  directing  affairs  asked  me  to 
permit  material  to  be  precipitated  upon  me  so  that 
I  might  talk  to  you.  This  was  done  without  my 
understanding  the  process  or  import.  Tell  me  the 
meaning  of  this  procedure,  if  you  please.” 

“I  am  deeply  interested,”  I  said,  “in  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  man,  after  death  so-called,  and  with  the 
aid  of  this  lady  and  the  group  you  saw  working 
with  us  I  am  able,  when  conditions  are  favourable, 
to  have  speech  with  those  beyond  the  earth-plane.” 

“I  gathered  that  from  your  first  talk,”  he  an¬ 
swered,  “but  all  is  so  natural  with  me  that  it  is 
hard  to  believe  we  are  not  in  the  old  body,  for  we 


90  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


are  like  yet  unlike.  Those  who  seem  to  control 
the  situation  have  bodies  from  which  radiates 
light,  while  my  own  and  those  of  all  who  are 
gathered  listening,  seem  enveloped  in  something 
like  a  mantle  of  darkness;  not  that  exactly,  for  we 
are  surrounded  by  what  I  should  describe  as  a 
dark,  intangible  substance  carried  by  the  individual 
as  he  moves.  If,  as  you  say,  all  these  whom  I  see 
except  this  lady  and  yourself  are  living  in  the 
world  of  spirit,  why  do  we  differ  so  much?” 

“The  appearance,”  1  replied,  “is  the  result  of 
a  process  of  refinement.  I  don’t  mean  in  manner 
or  speech,  but  in  soul  or  spirit  development.  In 
the  life  you  now  live,  the  law  of  attraction  holds 
full  dominion,  and  all  those  who  enter  are  irresist¬ 
ibly  drawn  into  that  mental  state  or  condition  that 
will  accord  with  their  own.  That  is  what  I  am 
told.  You  will  find,  the  intellectual,  the  high 
minded,  the  spiritual,  the  selfish,  the  wicked  and 
the  immoral,  all  of  them  in  different  groups  and 
in  conditions  as  varying  as  character.  There  is 
no  progress  from  one  to  another  except  by  a  purify¬ 
ing  process  through  labour  and  suffering  until  the 
individual  is  qualified  for  advancement.  This  is 
a  very  natural  and  a  very  just  process,  is  it  not?” 

“The  suggestion  is  very  new,”  he  remarked.  “I 
cannot  say  that  it  is  not  just,  but  I  do  say  it  is  novel. 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 


91 


I  never  thought  of  things  in  that  way.  If  what  you 
say  is  true,  why  has  it  never  been  taught  before?” 

“I  could  answer  your  question  in  many  ways,” 
I  said.  “Knowledge  is  the  one  thing  in  the  world 
we  have  to  work  for.  You  can’t  steal,  buy,  in¬ 
herit,  or  beg  it;  it  must  be  acquired  by  effort. 
Now,  as  the  world  generally  speaking  has  never 
made  any  genuine  effort  to  obtain  knowledge  of  the 
conditions  prevailing  beyond,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  men  and  women  don’t  know.  Again,”  I 
added,  “the  average  mentality  would  not,  could 
not,  and  will  not  understand,  even  if  I  should  re¬ 
late  what  is  being  done  and  accomplished  this  min¬ 
ute;  but  there  are  some  thinkers,  and  their  num¬ 
ber  is  fast  increasing,  who  can  and  will  accept  a 
plain  statement  of  fact  when  it  appeals  to  their 
reason.” 

“I  am  thinking,”  he  said,  “as  I  never  did  be¬ 
fore,  and  I  don’t  believe  I  could  have  compre¬ 
hended  that  the  death-change  could  be  so  natural, 
and  so  simple.  What  is  beyond  I  don’t,  of  course, 
know.  I  seem  to  be  just  waking,  I  realize  that  I 
am  a  living  entity  in  no  way  changed.  I  now 
see  I  am  no  longer  like  you.  While  you  have  been 
talking,  those  whom  I  knew  in  earth-life  have  come 
and  told  me  I  have  made  a  great  change.  That  is 
about  all  I  know  now.” 


92  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


At  this  moment  another  spirit  speaking  said; 
“Yon,  my  friend,  have  much  to  learn.  Come  with 
me  for  a  little  time  for  reflection;  I  want  you  to 
appreciate  that  with  all  your  wealth  you  were  a 
selfish  man.  The  world  was  not  enriched  by  your 
journey  through  it,  and  this  accounts  for  the  gloom 
that  envelops  you  and  all  those  who  come  with  you. 
The  first  task  that  you  must  learn  to  do  is  to  live 
for  and  help  others,  a  process  which  humanizes  and 
broadens  the  soul,  and  develops  the  man.” 

Again  the  silence  as  the  voice  ceased.  I  had 
an  easy  discussion  with  Mrs.  French  for  a  time. 
Then  there  was  a  whisper;  involuntarily  I  leaned 
forward,  listening  intently  that  no  word  from  out 
of  the  unknown  land  should  be  lost,  and  with  a 
slow  and  measured  voice  scarcely  above  a  whisper, 
a  woman  said: — 

“I  cannot  understand  the  wisdom  of  creation. 
It  seems  with  my  limited  experience  so  unnecessary 
that  there  should  he  so  much  sorrow  and  suffering 
in  my  world  as  well  as  in  yours.  I  am  told  by 
teachers  greatly  advanced  that  humanity,  in  work¬ 
ing  out  its  destiny,  having  become  selfish,  has  lost 
sight  of  the  great  object  of  earth-life.  Dominated 
too  much  by  greed,  mankind  has  wandered  away 
from  the  path  of  purpose.  You  come  in  contact 
with  so  much  unhappiness  in  your  work, — for  only 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 


93 


the  unfortunate  need  the  help  that  you,  working 
with  the  wonderful  groups,  can  give,  that  I  am  per¬ 
mitted  to  come  and  speak  to  you,  and  to  others 
through  you,  of  the  beauty  of  this  land  in  which 
we  live,  to  enable  you  and  others  to  avoid  erro¬ 
neous  impressions  of  all  conditions  prevailing 
among  us.  I  came  here  as  an  infant  before  mem¬ 
ory  recorded  events.  Like  all  who  live  among  us 
I  came  up  from  the  mass  of  life  and  obtained  my 
individuality  through  conception  and  birth.  My 
first  recollection  is  of  a  home  similar  to  yours,  ex¬ 
cept  more  beautiful;  I  was  mothered  by  those  de¬ 
nied  motherhood  while  living  among  you.  It  was 
all  very  sweet  and  tender,  without  discord  or  in¬ 
harmony  of  any  character,  but  I  was  taken  while 
yet  a  baby  to  the  earth-mother,  and  in  her  arms 
while  she  slept,  I  absorbed  the  real  mother  love. 
If  mothers  could  only  know  how  children  though 
gone  cling  to  them,  how  happy  they  would  be,  and 
how  glad  we  are  when  an  earth-mother  feels  our 
presence  and  responds  in  word  or  thought!  As  I 
grew  to  girlhood,  I  was  given  teachers  who  helped 
my  mental  growth,  similar  to  what  I  see  in  your 
life,  except  that  we  are  not  taught  by  rule.  The 
capabilities  of  each  are  ascertained,  and  each  is 
helped  and  directed  along  the  lines  of  his  adapta¬ 
bility,  and  so  life  as  it  is  unfolded  grows  more 


94  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


wonderful  and  beautiful  each  day.  But  I  must 
visit  you  from  time  to  time  and  by  coming  in  touch 
with  physical  conditions  obtain  that  experience 
which  was  lost  in  leaving  your  world  so  young. 

“Let  me  impress  upon  you  the  charm  of  our  land 
by  saying  that  I  have  never  yet  found  a  single  one 
who  had  emerged  and  come  up  out  of  the  earth 
conditions  who  wanted  to  go  back,  inhabit  a  flesh 
garment  again,  and  live  among  you, — and  this  re¬ 
gardless  of  earth  ties.” 

“Tell  me  more  of  the  actualities  of  your  daily 
life,”  I  asked. 

“You  think,”  she  answered,  “that  you  have  vis¬ 
ion,  but  your  eyes  have  never  looked  upon  life  it¬ 
self.  You  think  you  have  hearing,  but  your  dull 
ears  have  never  heard  one  strain  of  our  divine 
music.  You  have  taste,  but  your  tongues  have 
never  touched  the  essence.  You  have  smell,  and 
the  aroma  of  roses  carried  by  etheric  atoms  fills  the 
nostrils,  but  you  cannot  appreciate  the  perfumes 
of  this  land  of  ours.  You  feel  the  touch  of  the 
coarse  covering  of  living  form  without  having  any 
conception  of  the  delight  of  touching  life  itself. 
In  this  sphere  we  have  opportunities  for  education, 
joys,  and  happiness  unthought  of  by  you  in  the 
earth-land,  but  these  are  only  for  those  who  have 
come  out  of  the  gross  material  condition  in  which 


THE  RECORD  OF  A  NIGHT 


95 


they  were  born.  We  live  in  homes  largely  in 
groups  where  harmony  of  thought  and  action  is 
perfect,  but  we  too  have  as  many  grades  of  people 
as  do  you,  and  in  our  earth-condition  is  found  deg¬ 
radation  as  great  as  that  which  you  know.  Here 
are  found  the  ignorant,  the  wicked,  the  immoral, 
and  the  vile.  Dissolution  does  not  improve  or  up¬ 
lift  character;  that  must  come  from  the  germ  of 
good  in  the  heart  of  every  living  creature. 

“Tell  those  who  fear  the  end,”  the  voice  said, 
“that  what  they  call  death  is  very  wonderful  and 
beautiful;  that  with  us,  as  with  you,  though  you 
know  it  not,  love  is  the  one  great  force  in  the  uni¬ 
verse;  it  is  the  motor  that  drives  the  world  and 
causes  action.  All  things  are  done  in  and  through 
it,  and  because  of  it.  Affinity  so-called  is  the  proc¬ 
ess  through  which  the  love-force  finds  expres¬ 
sion.  But  in  this  connection  let  me  suggest  that 
love  is  good,  and  of  God,  and  walks  in  the  path 
of  honour,  never  into  dishonour.  It  never  brought 
unhappiness;  it  is  never  ‘bom  of  lust?’ 

“It  has  been  a  joy  and  a  privilege  to  speak  to 
you  to-night,  for  if  any  words  of  mine  can  help  or 
make  happier  a  single  soul,  that  joy  is  reflected 
about  me,  and  I  am  happier  for  having  made 
others  happy.  Such  is  the  law  of  God,  and  the  se¬ 
cret  of  the  world.  Good  night.” 


96  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


What  am  I  to  do  with  such  teachings?  Shall 
I,  coward-like,  fearing  the  censure  of  this  little 
world,  hide  from  men  what  has  been  given  me? 
Such  actual  experiences  have  convinced  me  that 
this  individual  life  continues  on  and  on,  through 
the  ages.  If  this  be  so,  no  tongue  should  be  tied, 
voice  hushed,  or  hand  fail  to  write  of  facts  so  im¬ 
portant  to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  human 
race. 


CHAPTER  IX 


ATOMIC  LIFE 

IN  the  mentalogical  research  for  the  discovery 
of  the  life  principle,  investigators  are  going 
far.  Surpassing  wonderful  is  the  Carl  Zeiss 
ultra-microscope,  which  uses  only  the  radiating 
energy  within  the  portion  of  the  solar  spectrum 
which  is  beyond  the  violet.  These  waves  are  so 
rapid  they  do  not  affect  the  retina  and  are  hence 
invisible,  but  they  do  activate  silver  emulsions  on 
highly  sensitive  plates.  Inconceivable  minute 
life,  living  atoms,  or  bodies  in  motion  are  photo¬ 
graphed  on  rapidly  moving  films.  The  result  is 
beyond  imagination.  When  these  long  strips  of 
successive  radiographs  are  illuminated  by  strong 
electric  light,  under  a  powerful  projecting  lens, 
uncounted  thousands  of  unknown  kinds  of  living 
atoms  are  seen  moving  with  intense  activity. 

De  Vries  designates  these  minute  particles  con¬ 
cealed  in  living  matter,  “pangens,”  and  says  that 
“they  are  quite  another  order  than  chemical  mole¬ 
cules;  that  each  must  grow  and  multiply  by  self- 

97 


98  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


division.”  These  pangens  are  probably  units  con¬ 
taining  mind,  and  if  so,  his  opinion  gives  a  mind 
cast  to  the  Universe  and  all  that  it  includes. 

I  cite  these  two  scientists  to  show  the  tendency 
of  the  modern  investigator,  and  to  illustrate  how 
far  beyond  the  comprehension  of  man  is  the  life 
pangen.  Those  learned  investigators  living  and 
working  beyond  the  physical  plane,  having  had 
greater  opportunity  to  carry  on  research,  go  far 
beyond  earthly  experiences,  because  they  have  had 
a  greater  opportunity  to  acquire  knowledge  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Nature,  and  it  is  from 
this  source  that  I  have  gathered  the  information  that 
forms  the  basis  of  this  work. 

It  is  very  difficult  at  the  coming  of  dawn  to  say 
just  when  the  night  ends  and  the  day  begins.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  where  one  color  ends  and  another 
begins  in  the  rainbow.  It  is  likewise  very  diffi¬ 
cult  to  draw  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
physical  or  tangible,  and  the  etheric  or  the  spirit¬ 
ual.  The  one  is  tangible  and  the  other  intangible; 
the  one  is  measured  by  three  dimensions  and  com¬ 
prehended  by  the  five  senses;  the  other  is  demon¬ 
strated  by  clairvoyancy  and  clairaudiency,  the  sixth 
and  seventh  senses. 

I  deal  now  with  the  part  the  physical  atom  plays 
in  the  economy  of  Nature,  leaving  the  etheric,  no 


ATOMIC  LIFE  99 

less  material  but  higher  in  its  vibratory  action  and 
functions,  to  the  discussion  of  etheric  form. 

We  now  know  that  what  appears  to  be  solid  mat¬ 
ter,  tangible  and  dense,  which  we  can  see  and  feel 
is  but  an  aggregation  of  physical  atoms  and  mole¬ 
cules  slow  in  vibration,  and  that  within  and  back  of 
all  material  is  a  directive  force.  One  cannot  con¬ 
ceive  a  directive  force  that  does  not  possess  intelli¬ 
gence.  Within  every  atom  going  to  make  up  the 
tangible  mass  is  that  something  called  inherent  en¬ 
ergy  or  force,  which  science  readily  admits,  because 
it  is  possible  to  feel  and  to  see  the  expression 
of  that  force.  We  now  go  one  step  further  and 
say  that  force  or  energy  wherever  found, 
or  however  expressed,  is  life,  so  that  we  cannot, 
if  we  would  disassociate  energy  from  life,  or  force 
from  life,  or  life  from  force  or  energy,  simply  be¬ 
cause  they  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 

Nature  abhors  stagnation.  Life  cannot  for  one 
moment  be  absolutely  still;  its  vibration  is  so  high 
that  there  is  no  inactive  substance  in  the  world. 
That  is,  every  substance  has  more  or  less  move¬ 
ment,  which  causes  continual  change  of  form  and 
expression.  The  great  law  that  we  call  Evolution, 
influences  every  atom  in  the  physical  world.  It  is 
the  parent  of  progress;  it  is  that  something  inher¬ 
ent  in  everything  from  which  springs  the  desire  to 


100  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


increase,  reproduce,  and  reach  a  higher  state  of 
development,  and  that  influence  is  as  strong  in  the 
atoms  and  molecules  making  up  what  we  errone¬ 
ously  call  the  inanimate  mass,  as  in  the  animate 
mass  or  the  individual.  We  have  no  conception 
of  the  maximum  or  minimum  of  motion  or  move¬ 
ment.  The  higher  the  development  of  the  mass, 
the  more  rapid  its  vibration.  The  lower  the  mass 
development,  the  lower  its  vibration,  the  more  dark 
the  substance  as  shown  by  the  spectrum. 

It  is  most  difficult  to  treat  a  subject  so  beyond 
our  experience.  It  is  very  difficult  to  explain  a 
condition  so  far  beyond  our  comprehension,  but  if 
we  had  never  interested  ourselves  in  these  great 
unknown  forces  of  Nature,  we  should  not  have  made 
the  wonderful  progress  already  attained. 

It  is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  there  is  this  some¬ 
thing  called  force  in  all  substance  going  to  make  up 
the  tangible  mass.  We  take  coal,  liberate  the 
energy  and  force  therein  contained,  and  utilize  it  in 
our  industries.  We  go  down  into  the  earth  and 
liberate  the  gas,  bring  it  to  the  surface,  let  it  come 
in  contact  with  fire,  that  is  a  substance  higher  in  vi¬ 
bration  than  the  gas  itself,  and  through  chemical 
action  we  have  what  we  know  as  combustion;  we 
have  released  the  life-force  or  the  energy;  we  have 
dissociated  the  life-force  from  the  tangible  gar- 


ATOMIC  LIFE 


101 


ment.  We  take  water,  with  heat  increase  its  vibra¬ 
tion  and  convert  it  into  steam,  and  we  have  released 
the  energy  or  life-force  contained  in  the  water  from 
its  physical  garment.  And  so  we  could  take,  were 
we  possessed  of  greater  knowledge,  any  substance 
found  in  the  earth,  and  if  we  knew  how  to  break 
down  its  tangible  covering,  we  would  have  what 
science  terms  “energy,”  but  what  I  term  “life.” 
The  life-force,  clothed  with  tangible  substance  in 
the  process  of  the  alteration  that  is  continually  tak¬ 
ing  place  through  its  affinity  for  other  life-atoms,  is 
constantly  changing  form,  through  likes  and  dis¬ 
likes,  increasing  vibratory  action  to  the  end  that  the 
life-force  in  the  mass  may  through  such  continual 
development  and  progress  reach  the  highest  per¬ 
fection  possible  in  the  physical  world,  i.e.,  ultimate 
physical  expression  in  mankind.  In  other  words, 
by  natural  laws,  these  individual  atoms  through  a 
process  of  refinement,  through  association  and  dis¬ 
sociation,  through  likes  and  dislikes,  through 
chemical  combinations  and  growth,  ultimately  find 
expression  in  the  individual. 

It  has  been  said  that  everything  in  the  physical 
world  pays  tribute  to  mankind.  It  might  better  be 
said  that  everything  in  Nature,  obeying  the  great 
universal  law  of  Evolution,  when  it  reaches  its  high¬ 
est  physical  development,  finds  expression  in  man. 


102  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Every  living  creature  on  the  face  of  this  globe,  was 
originally  an  atom,  or  aggregation  of  atoms. 
When  it  was  first  clothed,  it  was  so  small  that  no 
physical  eye  could  discern  it,  and  no  magnifying 
glass  could  discover  it.  Its  inception  was  in  the 
dark  where  the  rapid  light  vibrations  could  not  im¬ 
pede  its  development.  Through  the  process  of 
growth  it  was  evolved.  Vegetables,  plants,  grains, 
animals,  fish,  and  many  of  the  birds  of  the  air, 
through  digestive  action  were  utilized  to  clothe  and 
furnish  the  physical  garment  which  the  individual 
required  in  its  growth  and  development.  That 
physical  garment  is  entirely  constructed  from  those 
tangible  substances  furnished  by  the  mass,  which 
is  necessary  for  that  special  purpose,  so  that  we 
say  that  the  physical  form  is  being  constructed  out 
of  the  mass  of  matter. 

Let  us  go  a  step  lower,  and  we  find  that  the 
physical  garment  that  clothes  the  vegetable  king¬ 
dom  is  taken  from  the  earth-substance  still  lower. 
All  animal  life  is  constantly  taking  from  the  mass 
the  substance  which  will  aid  its  physical  growth. 
It  is  all  one  splendid  process  of  change  and  growth 
and  progression,  all  tending  toward  the  apex  where 
stands  man  the  most  perfect  physical  being  that 
Nature  seeks  to  produce  in  this  world. 

Looking  in  the  mirror  we  see  reflected  not  the 


ATOMIC  LIFE 


103 


individual,  but  the  outer  garment  of  the  individual 
constructed  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter.  In 
dissolution  we  simply  give  back  to  the  fields  and  to 
the  common  earth  that  which  we  have  temporarily 
borrowed.  The  gross  material  composing  our 
bodies  has  served  its  purpose,  and  it  goes  back  to 
mother-earth,  back  into  the  retort  to  continue  its 
progression  until  at  some  time  the  substance  which 
covered  our  etheric  form  shall  reach  individuality 
and  then  continuity. 

Through  the  labyrinth  of  creation  there  is  no 
rest.  Vibration  is  the  pulse  of  Nature.  Super¬ 
ficial  observation  teaches  that  matter  never  moves 
unless  acted  upon.  The  sailing  ship  is  propelled 
by  the  winds,  the  engine  by  steam;  there  are  in 
Nature  endless  manifestations  of  force  in  moving 
planets  and  constellations,  in  growing  vegetation, 
and  in  man  himself.  Motion  belongs  to  the  atom. 
The  Universe  is  but  an  aggregation  of  atoms,  and 
its  motions  are  just  what  those  of  a  single  atom 
placed  in  its  orbit  would  be.  Each  atom  must  be 
its  own  motor,  and  the  combined  influence  of  all  is 
the  influence  of  the  earth.  Mathematical  demon¬ 
stration  and  deductive  reasoning  justify  this  sup¬ 
position.  The  agency  of  an  Almighty  constantly 
propelling  them,  does  not  meet  the  demands  of 
reason.  Life  is  bom  of  motion.  It  is  first  trace- 


104  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


able  in  the  mutual  attraction  between  atoms  in  solu¬ 
tion  arranging  themselves  in  definite  forms;  in  af¬ 
finity  and  the  repulsion  of  particles.  It  may  ap¬ 
pear  startling  that  the  forces  which  create  the  crys¬ 
tal  are  living  forces;  but  the  data  available  by 
known  and  accepted  laws  justify  the  statement. 

I  would  direct  attention  to  the  energy  contained 
in  the  atom.  I  would  impress  on  the  public  mind 
that  energy  is  life,  and  that  all  life  is  material;  that 
is,  it  is  made  up  of  that  substance  we  know  as  Ether, 
which  is  so  high  in  vibration,  and  so  refined  that  it 
is  not  evidential  unless  clothed  with  heavier  sub¬ 
stance  which  we  term  physical;  moreover,  from 
the  life  contained  in  the  atom,  by  evolutionary  law, 
man  has  evolved.  We  cannot  understand  life  as 
expressed  in  the  individual,  without  knowing  at 
least  something  of  its  origin,  and  the  law  through 
which  it  finds  expression  in  man. 


CHAPTER  X 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 

DESIRING  a  clear  comprehension  of  the 
etheric  spheres  outside  the  physical,  and 
having  opportunity  to  speak  with  one 
very  learned  and  advanced  in  the  after-life,  I  said: 

“Describe,  if  you  please,  the  spheres  in  which 
you  live,  with  special  reference  to  their  tangibility 
and  materiality.” 

The  gentleman  answered: 

“There  are  seven  concentric  rings  called  spheres. 
The  region  nearest  the  earth  is  known  as  the  first 
or  rudimental  sphere.  It  really  blends  with  your 
earth’s  sphere.  It  is  just  one  step  higher  in  vibra¬ 
tion.  Growing  more  intense  and  increasing  in 
action  are  six  more,  distinguished  as  the  spiritual 
spheres.  These  are  all  concentric  zones  or  circles 
of  exceedingly  fine  matter  encompassing  the  earth 
like  belts  or  girdles,  each  separated  from  the  other 
and  regulated  by  fixed  laws.  They  are  not  shape¬ 
less  chimeras  or  mental  projections,  but  absolute 

entities,  just  as  tangible  as  the  planets  of  the  solar 

105 


106  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


system  or  the  earth  upon  which  you  reside.  They 
have  latitude  and  longitude,  and  an  atmosphere  of 
peculiarly  vitalized  air.  The  undulating  currents, 
soft  and  balmy,  are  invigorating  and  pleasurable.” 

“How  does  the  landscape  appear  to  you?”  I 
asked. 

He  answered:  “The  surface  of  the  zone  is  di¬ 
versified.  There  is  a  great  variety  of  landscape, 
some  of  it  most  picturesque.  We,  like  you,  have 
lofty  mountain  ranges,  valleys,  rivers,  lakes,  for¬ 
ests,  and  the  internal  correspondence  of  all  the 
vegetable  life  that  exists  upon  your  earth.  Trees 
and  shrubbery  covered  with  most  beautiful  foliage, 
and  flowers  of  every  color  and  character  known  to 
you,  and  many  that  you  know  not  give  forth  their 
perfume.  The  physical  economy  of  each  zone  dif¬ 
fers  from  every  other.  New  and  striking  scenes  of 
grandeur  are  presented  to  us,  increasing  in  beauty 
and  sublimity  as  we  progress.” 

“Do  the  seven  concentric  rings,  or  spheres,  move 
with  the  earth  as  the  earth  moves?”  I  asked. 

“Although  the  spheres  revolve,”  he  said,  “with 
the  earth  on  a  common  axis,  forming  the  same 
angle  with  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  and  move  with 
it  about  your  sun,  they  are  not  dependent  upon 
that  sun  for  either  light  or  heat;  they  receive  not  a 
perceptible  ray  from  that  ponderable  source.” 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 


107 


“From  what  source  do  you  receive  your  light?” 
I  then  asked. 

“We  receive  our  light  emanations,”  he  said, 
“wholly  from  an  etheric  sun,  concentric  with  your 
sun,  from  which  central  luminary  there  comes  un¬ 
interrupted  splendour,  baffling  description.  We 
have,  therefore,  no  division  of  time  into  days, 
weeks,  months,  or  years,  nor  alterations  of  season 
caused  by  the  earth’s  annual  revolution,  for  the 
reason  that  we  have  no  changing  season  as  you 
have,  caused  by  the  action  of  the  sun  of  your  solar 
system.  We,  like  you,  are  constantly  progressing 
from  day  to  day,  but  our  ideas  of  time  and  seasons 
differ  widely  from  yours.  With  you,  it  is  time. 
With  us,  it  is  eternity.  In  your  sphere  your 
thoughts,  necessarily  bounded  by  time  and  space, 
are  limited,  but  with  us  thoughts  are  extended  in 
proportion  as  we  get  rid  of  those  restrictions,  and 
our  perception  of  truth  becomes  more  accurate.” 

“How  do  you  use  matter,  change  its  form  and 
condition?”  I  asked. 

“Matter,”  he  said,  “with  us  is  only  tangible  as 
the  mind  concentrates  upon  the  object.  Then  the 
force  of  the  mind  or  thought  sends  its  vibration 
around  the  object,  holding  it  in  a  measure  tangible. 
Of  course,  this  is  something  very  different  from 
what  you  call  tangibility.  Without  this  mental 


108  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


concentration  the  vibration  pulses  indifferently. 
That  is  the  natural  condition  of  matter  in  our  zone. 
It  requires  the  thought  to  change  its  form  and  con¬ 
dition.  The  vibrating  action  of  matter  is  measured 
by  the  space  necessary  for  the  volume.” 

“How  can  this  material  condition  in  which  you 
live  be  demonstrated?”  I  asked. 

“One  cannot  prove,”  he  said,  “to  a  child  that 
steam,  that  pretty  fascinating  substance,  is  harm¬ 
ful  until  the  finger  is  burned;  neither  can  one  in¬ 
still  the  truth  into  an  older  mind  until  it  is  not  only 
opened  but  has  the  capacity  to  comprehend.  That 
all  is  material  in  different  states  of  vibration  is 
easily  grasped  by  the  thinker.  It  is  impossible  to 
prove  by  your  laws,  to  actually  demonstrate  the 
existence  of  matter  in  the  higher  vibrations  in  which 
we  live  so  that  men  may  comprehend.  When  you 
deal  with  matter  in  the  physical,  you  apply  physical 
laws.  When  you  deal  in  matter  spiritual,  you  ap¬ 
ply  spiritual  laws,  practically  unknown  among 
men.  The  best  possible  evidence  is  the  vision  of 
the  clairvoyant  together  with  deductive  reasoning, 
which,  as  we  have  said,  is  really  the  highest  order 
of  proof. 

“Have  you  ever  thought,”  he  said,  “that  the 
result  of  every  physical  demonstration  reaches  the 
consciousness  through  the  avenue  of  reason?  The 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 


109 


mentality  in  a  higher  state  of  development  compre¬ 
hends  a  fact  in  Nature  without  physical  proof.” 

“Tell  us  something  of  your  social  life,  your 
scientific  research,  and  religious  teaching  in  the 
plane  in  which  you  reside,”  I  asked. 

“With  regard  to  the  social  constitution  of  the 
‘spheres’  each  is  divided  into  six  circles,  or  societies, 
in  which  kindred  and  cogenial  spirits  are  united 
and  subsist  together  under  the  law  of  affinity.  Al¬ 
though  the  members  of  each  society  unite  as  near 
as  may  be  on  the  same  plane,  agreeing  in  the 
most  prominent  moral  and  intellectual  features;  yet 
it  will  be  found  on  careful  analysis,  that  the  varie¬ 
ties  of  character  in  each  society  are  almost  infinite, 
being  as  numerous  as  the  persons  who  compose  the 
circle.  Each  society  has  teachers  from  those 
above,  and  not  infrequently  from  the  higher 
spheres,  whose  province  is  to  impart  to  us  the 
knowledge  acquired  from  their  experience  in  the 
different  departments  of  science;  this,  we  in  turn 
transmit  to  those  below.  Thus  by  receiving  and 
giving  knowledge,  our  moral  and  intellectual  facul¬ 
ties  are  expanded  to  higher  conceptions  and  more 
exalted  views  of  Nature,  the  power  of  which  is  no 
less  displayed  in  the  constitution  of  spirit  worlds 
than  in  the  countless  resplendent  orbs  of  space. 
Our  scientific  researches  and  investigations  are  ex- 


110  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


tended  to  all  that  pertains  to  the  phenomena  of  uni¬ 
versal  truth;  to  all  the  wonders  of  the  heavens  and 
of  the  earth,  and  to  whatever  the  mind  of  man  is 
capable  of  conceiving.  All  of  these  researches  ex¬ 
ercise  our  faculties  and  form  a  considerable  part 
of  our  enjoyments.  The  noble  and  sublime 
sciences  of  astronomy,  chemistry,  and  mathe¬ 
matics  engage  a  considerable  portion  of  our  at¬ 
tention,  and  afford  us  an  inexhaustible  subject  for 
study  and  reflection. 

“Nevertheless,  there  are  millions  of  spirits  who 
are  not  yet  sufficiently  advanced  to  take  any  inter¬ 
est  in  such  pursuits.  The  mind  being  untram¬ 
melled  by  the  gross  material  body,  and  having  its 
mental  and  intellectual  energies  and  perceptions 
improved,  can  by  intuition,  as  it  were,  more  cor¬ 
rectly  and  rapidly  perceive  and  understand  the 
principles  and  truths  on  which  the  sciences  are 
based.  In  addition  to  our  studies,  we  have  many 
other  sources  of  intellectual,  moral,  and  heartfelt 
enjoyment,  from  which  we  derive  the  most  ineffable 
pleasures,  some  of  which  are  social  reunions 
among  children  and  parents  where  the  liveliest  emo¬ 
tion  and  tenderest  affections  of  our  nature  are  ex¬ 
cited,  and  the  fondest  and  most  endearing  reminis¬ 
cences  are  awakened;  where  spirit  meets  in  union 
with  spirit,  and  heart  beats  responsive  to  heart. 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 


111 


“We  have  no  sectarian  or  ecclesiastical  feuds, 
no  metaphysical  dogmas;  our  religious  teachers  be¬ 
long  to  that  class  of  persons  who  were  noted  during 
their  probation  on  earth  for  their  philanthropy  and 
deeds  of  moral  bravery;  who,  regardless  of  the 
scoffs  and  sneers  of  the  time-serving  multitude, 
dared  to  promulgate  and  defend  the  doctrines  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  They  urge  upon  us, 
too,  the  necessity  of  co-operation  in  the  reforma¬ 
tion  and  advancement  of  our  more  degraded  breth¬ 
ren  by  instructing  them  in  the  divine  principles  of 
love,  wisdom,  and  benevolence.  They  instruct 
them  in  the  soul-inspiring  and  elevating  doctrines 
of  universal  and  eternal  progression,  and  in  the 
sublime  truth  that  evil  is  not  an  indestructible  and 
positive  principle,  but  a  negative  condition,  a  mere 
temporary  circumstance  of  existence;  and  further¬ 
more,  that  suffering  for  sin  is  not  a  revengeful  and 
malevolent  infliction  of  God,  but  a  necessary  and 
invariable  sequence  of  violated  law. 

“They  teach  also  that,  according  to  the  divine 
moral  economy,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pardon  for 
sins  committed — no  immediate  mercy — no  possible 
escape  from  the  natural  results  of  crime,  no  matter 
where  or  by  whom  committed;  no  healing  of  a  dis¬ 
eased  moral  constitution  by  any  outward  appli¬ 
ances,  or  ceremonial  absurdities;  and  finally,  that 


112  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  only  way  to  escape  sin  and  its  consequences,  is 
by  progressing  above  and  beyond  it.” 

“What  is  spirit,  as  that  term  is  used?”  I  asked. 

“Spirit,”  he  said,  “is  the  one  great  power  in  the 
Universe.  The  combination  of  spirit  forces  is  the 
great  power  for  good,  and  through  the  absence  of 
that  force  many  undesirable  conditions  develop  in 
your  world, -—all  in  the  Universe  is  but  an  expres¬ 
sion  of  this  great  force,  and  if  this  spirit  force 
were  not  material,  were  not  a  substance,  how  could 
it  take  form  and  have  growth  in  the  physical  plane? 
Those  still  in  your  world  make  a  great  mistake 
when  they  for  one  moment  imagine  that  our  world 
is  not  a  material  one;  it  is  foolish  to  think  of  an 
existence  without  substance.  How  can  there  be  a 
world  beyond  the  physical  unless  it  is  material? 
Without  it  there  could  be  no  after-life.  Strong 
invisible  bands  of  force  hold  the  great  system  of 
spheres  in  proper  place.  It  is  all  mind-force,  and 
all  force  is  life,  mighty,  unchanging,  unyielding, 
and  this  mind-power  is  increased  by  every  indi¬ 
vidual  life  that  is  developed  in  your  creative 
sphere.  It  has  become  a  part  of  the  individual  life 
force  of  the  Universe,  and  each  day  it  adds  some¬ 
thing  to  that  force  called  Good.  This  addition  is 
made,  not  at  dissolution,  but  from  hour  to  hour,  as 
the  mentality  increases.” 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 


113 


Such  teachings  appeal  to  reason,  and  I  accept 
them.  Our  earth  is  still  very  young;  before  it 
took  form  and  shape  and  a  definite  place  in  the  pro¬ 
cession  of  world,  other  planets  and  solar  systems 
were  growing  old.  It  was  but  yesterday  in  the 
calendar  of  time  that  the  convulsions  and  eruptions 
of  this  earth  in  its  effort  to  take  definite  form 
threw  up  the  mountains,  made  valleys  for  the  seas, 
and  destroyed  in  its  labour  the  peopled  continent 
of  Atlantis.  It  was  but  a  little  time  ago  that  the 
pyramids  were  built  and  temples  were  erected  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Nile,  that  Belshazzar  in  the  temple 
of  Babylon  saw  invisible  hands  write  upon  the 
wall.  Grecian  and  Roman  splendour,  Moham¬ 
medan  culture  and  refinement,  Napoleon’s  con¬ 
quest,  and  religious  freedom  are  all  things  of  to¬ 
day.  Time  is  no  more  measured  by  the  calendar 
than  a  grain  of  sand  measures  the  extent  of  the 
desert. 

There  are  so  many  things  which  we  as  a  people 
do  not  know!  We  have  gone  into  the  depths  of  the 
earth  and  learned  just  a  little  of  geology;  we  have 
done  something  in  botany;  we  have  searched  the 
skies,  discovered  planets,  measured  distances,  and 
learned  just  a  little  about  astronomy.  We  have 
succeeded  in  putting  a  single  harness  on  electricity 
without  knowing  what  it  is.  and  have  developed  our 


114  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


individual  selves  in  about  the  same  proportion. 
But  we  have  really  no  conception  of  space  or  of  the 
thousands  of  suns  and  solar  systems  connected  with 
ours,  or  of  the  medium  between  them.  Science  has 
no  conception  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  elec¬ 
tric  force,  and  knows  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
magnetic  force,  the  part  that  it  plays  in  Nature,  or 
the  influence  it  has  in  this  world  of  ours.  The 
world  has  little  conception  of  matter  except  in  its 
grossest  expression.  It  knows  nothing  of  solar 
space.  It  has  not  developed  sufficiently  to  com¬ 
prehend  that  the  Universe  is  material,  and  that  the 
different  planes  are  similar,  except  in  density. 
The  race  has  not  yet  developed  sufficiently  to  un¬ 
derstand  what  life  is,  or  the  source  from  whence 
this  atom  that  develops  self  has  come.  Nor  do  wre 
yet  appreciate  or  understand  the  duties  and  re¬ 
sponsibilities  that  rest  upon  the  individual,  and  his 
relation  to  society  and  to  himself.  Certain  ele¬ 
mentary  propositions  have  been  enunciated  and 
demonstrated,  and  many  so-called  great  minds  say 
that  beyond  them  we  cannot  go.  Life  force  is  as 
much  of  a  mystery  to  science  to-day  as  it  was  be¬ 
fore  the  Christian  era. 

The  primary  propositions  which  must  be  under¬ 
stood  are  these:  the  earth  is  one  of  many  creative 
planets;  progress  has  only  commenced;  nothing  in 


ETHERIC  ENVIRONMENT 


115 


this  physical  world  has  or  will  reach  perfection;  all 
present  knowledge  is  elementary;  there  are  no 
limitations;  life  is  eternal  and  will  continue  to  de¬ 
velop,  expand,  and  increase  through  the  untold  ages 
yet  to  come  beyond  man’s  comprehension  of  time. 
Our  beginning  we  cannot  know  with  our  present 
development;  knowledge  of  our  end  is  equally  im¬ 
possible,  but  the  present  is  ours. 


CHAPTER  XI 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE 

HOW  can  people  be  dead  and  not  know  it? 

This  was  the  most  difficult  proposition 
that  was  ever  presented  to  me.  All  or¬ 
thodox  teaching  has  been  such  that  it  is  difficult 
for  any  one  to  comprehend  the  natural  conditions 
about  them.  In  my  first  years  of  this  most  inter¬ 
esting  research,  I  talked  with  many  who  did  not 
know  that  they  had  left  the  earth-life  at  all.  Why 
did  they  not  know  that  they  had  left  the  physical 
body? 

Let  me  give  a  stenographic  account  of  our  work 
on  the  evening  of  May  10,  1897,  illustrative  of  the 
point  referred  to  and  reported  by  Miss  Gertrude 
Spaulding,  now  secretary  to  one  of  the  United 
States  senators  from  Minnesota. 

The  spirit  controlling  our  work  said:  “To¬ 
night,  we  must  bring  into  your  presence  a  neces¬ 
sity,  bring  one  who  needs  help  more  than  you  need 

words  of  instruction.  In  this  regular  work,  do  not 

116 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE  117 

change  conditions;  if  you  want  to  invite  strangers, 
take  another  night.” 

A  strange  spirit  voice  said: 

Q.  I  am  interested  to  know  what  you  are  doing 
here.  I  don’t  want  that  woman  sitting  there  to 
take  down  what  I  say. 

A.  She  is  not  here  to  take  down  your  confes¬ 
sion,  if  you  make  one.  The  work  we  are  doing  is 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  taken  stenographi- 
cally;  that  is  what  the  stenographer  is  here  for. 
Well,  sir,  how  can  we  serve  you? 

“I  don’t  want  you  to  call  me  ‘friend,’  but  as  I 
am  here,  I  will  present  a  business  proposition. 
You  like  money,  don’t  you?  I  suppose  the  rest 
of  you  like  money  too.  It  does  lots  of  things.” 

Q.  Have  you  a  speculation  that  you  want  us  to 
join  in? 

A.  I  have  a  certain  block  of  stock  I  want  to 
sell. 

Q.  What  kind  of  stock? 

A.  Mining  stock.  It  is  mining  stock. 

Q.  Is  that  the  most  important  thing  in  your 
mind? 

A.  That’s  the  most  important. 

Q.  Why  do  you  wish  to  sell  it? 

A.  I  have  a  good  reason,  but  I  don’t  say  very 
much  about  it  to  strangers. 


118  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Q.  How  did  you  get  it? 

A.  Never  mind  that.  I  have  it  and  want  to 
sell  it. 

Q.  How  long  have  you  had  that  stock  for  sale? 

A.  I  have  had  it  for  about  five  years.  Have 
not  sold  it  because  everybody  seems  afraid  of  it. 

Q.  Now,  hasn’t  it  occurred  to  you  that  if  you 
have  not  sold  it,  there  is  something  about  that 
stock  that  isn’t  right? 

A.  I  know  all  about  that  stock.  Are  you 
afraid  of  it? 

Q.  No,  I  am  not  afraid  of  it.  You  have  of¬ 
fered  it  very  cheap,  I  suppose? 

A.  Not  so  very.  I  don’t  believe  in  cheap 
stocks. 

Q.  You  have  traveled? 

A.  Traveled?  Traveled  from  one  end  of  the 
earth  to  the  other.  I  have  even  been  to  Europe. 

Q.  Now,  does  it  not  seem  strange  to  you  that 
you  have  traveled  so  far  and  not  sold  your  stock? 

A.  I’ll  tell  you.  It  is  strange  to  me  because 
everybody  that  I  have  offered  it  to,  has  turned  away 
after  looking  at  it.  People  think  I  am  a  little 
“off.” 

Q.  Now,  where  is  your  family? 

A.  You  want  my  wife  to  sign  the  papers? 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE 


119 


Q.  Will  she  sign? 

A.  It  is  not  necessary. 

Q.  Where  is  she? 

A.  Home. 

Q.  Where  is  home? 

A.  I  will  tell  you,  if  you  want  to  know.  She 
is  at  San  Jose,  California. 

Q.  You  have  traveled  a  good  way.  Did  you 
ever  hear  of  the  city  of  Buffalo? 

A.  Yes,  who  hasn’t? 

Q.  It  is  a  good  city,  isn’t  it? 

A.  Very  good,  very  good. 

Q.  Now,  I  live  in  Buffalo.  I  am  in  my  own 
home  now. 

A.  You  don’t  mean  to  say  that  I  am  in  Buf¬ 
falo? 

Q.  Yes. 

A.  Your  home? 

Q.  Yes.  You  have  been  brought  here  for 
some  purpose  other  than  selling  mining  stock. 
You  have  traveled  a  long  way.  Now,  my  friend, 
where  did  you  get  those  papers?  Be  honest  with 
me.  Have  they  not  been  a  burden  to  you  for 
years? 

A.  That  will  do,  gentlemen. 

Q.  Did  you  get  that  stock  honestly? 


120  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


The  voice  of  the  control  interrupted,  speaking 
with  great  force;  “The  man  you  stole  the  papers 
from,  shot  you.” 

Q.  Who  is  that?  How  does  he  know?  How 
does  he  know? 

The  control  speaking  to  us  said: 

“He  was  shot  while  stealing  those  papers. 
When  we  cannot  reach  spirits  of  his  kind,  we  find 
it  necessary  to  bring  them  into  the  conditions  pre¬ 
vailing  here  now;  we  want  your  help.  In  this  con¬ 
dition  their  mental  activities  are  quickened,  and 
they  are  brought  out  of  mental  darkness.” 

I  said  to  the  spirit:  “If  you  will  come  and  touch 
me,  possibly  you  will  gather  more  strength.” 

A.  You  will  put  handcuffs  on  me. 

Q.  You  are  among  friends. 

A.  I  don’t  trust  in  friends  or  strangers. 

Q.  I  want  you  to  listen  to  what  I  have  to  say. 
You  are  nearly  three  thousand  miles  from  San 
Jose,  California.  When  you  were  stealing  that 
stock  from  that  other  man,  you  heard  the  click  of  a 
revolver,  didn’t  you? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Did  you  hear  the  explosion? 

A.  No. 

Q.  There  was  one. 

A.  I  should  have  heard  it  if  there  had  been. 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE 


121 


Q.  There  was  a  revolver  fired  at  that  time,  I 
am  told,  and  that  ball  penetrated  your  body. 
When  that  occurred,  you  passed  out  of  the  phys¬ 
ical  body.  You  live  right  on;  that  life  is  so  like 
the  life  here,  that  you  and  thousands  of  others 
go  right  on  without  being  conscious  of  the  change ; 
they  find  conditions  so  similar,  and  whatever  was 
in  the  mind  when  the  change  occurred  is  held  some¬ 
times  indefinitely.  You  have  been  wandering  over 
the  face  of  the  earth  holding  the  thought  that  that 
stock  was  in  your  hands.  You  are  not  as  you  were 
before  you  took  that  stock;  a  great  alteration  has 
taken  place,  but  you  are  not  dead. 

A.  Am  I  a  ghost? 

Q.  Let  me  explain.  Every  week  we  sit  in  a 
dark  room  as  are  now  doing,  and  understanding 
the  laws  that  govern  speech  between  the  spiritual 
and  the  physical  planes,  we  are  able  to  talk  with 
people  who  have  passed  on,  just  as  we  are  talking 
to  you  to-night.  Now,  you  are  in  a  situation  which 
you  fail  to  comprehend.  You  must  work  out  of 
your  present  condition  and  undo  the  wrong  that 
you  have  done.  You  will  be  able  in  time,  much 
time  probably,  to  progress,  and  those  who  have 
progressed  farther  and  understand  your  condition, 
have  brought  you  to-night  into  this  condition  for 
the  purpose  of  having  us  demonstrate  to  you  the 


122  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


change  that  has  come,  and  teach  you  how  to  com¬ 
pensate  for  the  wrong  that  you  did.  If  you  will 
listen,  you  will  be  told. 

A.  I  believe  none  of  that. 

Q.  Do  you  understand  that  there  is  actually  no 
death? 

A.  No,  I  do  not. 

Q.  The  majority  of  people  in  the  physical  world 
do  not  understand  that  change  at  all.  One  leaves 
the  old,  physical  body  as  one  leaves  an  old  coat. 
But  the  etheric  body,  the  individual  self,  with  its 
tendencies  and  desires,  goes  on  and  on.  Now, 
don’t  you  think  there  has  been  a  change  with  you  in 
some  way?  Do  you  want  me  to  demonstrate  that 
to  you? 

A.  I  am  just  like  you. 

Q.  That  cannot  be,  for  your  body  is  composed 
of  ether  only.  I  lift  my  hand  to  my  face.  Can 
you  see  my  face  through  my  hand? 

A.  No. 

Q.  Now,  lift  up  your  hand.  Don’t  you  see 
there  is  a  difference? 

A.  Yes,  I  can  see  through  my  hand. 

Q.  What  do  you  think  of  that? 

A.  If  you  think  I  am  crazy,  I  had  better  go. 

Q.  We  are  not  trying  to  do  you  harm. 

A.  Talk  then  in  reason. 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE 


123 


The  control  interrupted  again,  saying: 

“We  will  bring  a  spirit  that  shall  teach  you  what 
is  reasonable,  and  he  shall  prove  to  you  that  you 
too  are  a  spirit.” 

Q.  Do  you  know  that  the  man  talking  to  you 
now,  is  S - ,  once  a  citizen  of  much  prominence? 

A.  He  is  dead. 

Q.  He  is  talking  to  you.  Is  he  dead  if  he  can 
talk? 

A.  You  are  a  queer  lot  of  people. 

Q.  Possibly,  hut  if  you  will  listen  to  what  he 
says,  if  you  will  earnestly  seek  the  truth,  you  will 
find  it.  Things  are  not  satisfactory  with  you,  are 
they? 

A.  Not  very. 

Q.  Now,  you  would  like  to  get  out  of  your  pres¬ 
ent  condition,  would  you  not? 

A.  I  don’t  like  to  be  called  dead. 

Q.  We  will  help  you  all  we  can.  We  want 
you  to  listen.  I  tell  you  again,  there  is  no  death. 

A.  But  you  said  I  was  a  spirit. 

Q.  Yes,  I  say  that  you  are  now  in  the  after¬ 
life,  and  that  you  have  an  etheric  body,  almost 
identical  with  the  old  physical. 

A.  Don’t  you  know  that  the  spirit  is  nothing 
but  dust? 

Q.  I  do  not;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  as  material 
as  before  dissolution? 


124  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


A.  Where  are  your  ministers?  Why  don’t  they 
so  teach  if  it  is  a  fact. 

Q.  Because  the  great  majority  don’t  know;  and 
the  few  who  do  know  have  not  the  courage. 

A.  I  will  go  and  ask  Father  Spencer  if  this  be 
true. 

Q.  Do  you  want  to  see  Father  Spencer  right 
here?  Is  it  possible  at  this  time  to  bring  Father 
Spencer  here  to-night?  I  asked  the  control. 

A.  I  am  sending  messengers  for  Father  Spen¬ 
cer,  who  has  also  passed  on  since  his  going,  he  re¬ 
plied. 

Q.  Now,  if  Father  Spencer  can  come  here  and 
talk  to  you  as  a  spirit — 

A.  Then  I  will  believe  every  word  you  said. 

Q.  Either  to  night,  or  at  some  other  time,  you 
shall  talk  with  Father  Spencer  as  you  are  talking 
now  with  us. 

A.  I  will  wait. 

Some  years  elapsed  before  this  strange  spirit 
came  again,  and  then  only  to  say  that  he  had 
found  Father  Spencer,  and  had  come  to  under¬ 
stand  the  terrible  condition  which,  by  a  life  ill- 
spent,  he  had  made  for  himself.  He  then  ap¬ 
preciated  that  he  must  meet  again  every  wrong  act 
of  his  earth-life,  live  it  again  and  live  it  right, 
and  by  labour  make  retribution  for  all  the  wrong 


SO  LITTLE  CHANGE 


125 


he  had  done.  He  further  said  that  no  man,  if  he 
understood  the  result  of  evil  or  its  effect  in  the 
after-life,  would  do  wrong. 

At  the  time  this  work  was  being  carried  on,  I 
did  not  fully  appreciate  the  fact  that  one  could 
be  dead,  so-called,  and  not  know  it,  I  had  first  to 
learn  that  there  is  individual  life  beyond  the  grave. 
Then  I  was  taught: 

(a)  — That  here  and  now  we  have  spirit  bodies 
composed  of  etheric  material,  as  much  matter  as 
the  flesh  garment  that  covers  them. 

(b)  — That  dissolution  is  simply  the  passing  of 
the  etheric  out  of  the  physical  covering. 

(c)  — That  the  after-life  is  just  as  tangible  and 
material  as  this,  intense  and  real  beyond  compre¬ 
hension,  differing  from  this  life  in  vibration  only. 

(d)  — That  the  so-called  dead  have  bodies  as  real 
and  tangible  to  them  as  ours  are  to  us. 

(e)  — That  many  of  the  dead,  so-called,  move 
about  even  among  us,  little  realizing  that  any 
change  has  been  made,  unless  developed  spirit¬ 
ually.  When  I  had  learned  these  things,  the 
teachers  of  the  etheric  world  took  up  with  me  the 
character  and  conditions  surrounding  and  govern¬ 
ing  life  in  the  next  sphere  of  development.  Then 
I  understood. 


CHAPTER  XII 
man’s  etheric  body 

THE  ancients  thought  that  Ether  filled  the 
sky,  and  was  the  home  of  the  Gods.  It 
was  contended  by  Aristotle  that  it  ex¬ 
tended  from  the  fixed  stars  down  to  the  moon. 
Modem  science  has  heretofore  contended  that  all 
space  is  filled  with  a  substance  having  rigidity  and 
elasticity,  with  a  density  equal  to  our  atmosphere  at 
a  height  of  about  210  miles — easily  displaced  by 
any  moving  mass — compared  to  an  all-prevailing 
fluid  or  derivative  of  gases  through  which  heat 
and  light  are  constantly  throbbing. 

In  “Modem  views  on  Electricity,”  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge,  speaking  the  last  word  concerning  Ether, 
says: 

“It  is  one  continuous  substance  filling  all  space; 
which  can  vibrate  as  light,  which,  under  certain 
unknown  conditions,  can  be  modified  or  analyzed 
into  positive  and  negative  electricity;  which  can 
constitute  matter;  and  can  transmit,  by  continuity 

and  not  by  impact,  every  action  and  reaction  of 

126 


MAN’S  ETHERIC  BODY 


127 


which  matter  is  capable.  This  is  the  modem  view 
of  the  Ether  and  its  functions.  The  most  solid 
substance  in  the  world  is  not  iron,  is  not  lead,  is  not 
gold,  is  not  any  of  the  tilings  that  impress  our 
sense  as  extremely  dense.  The  most  solid  thing 
in  existence  is  the  very  thing  which  for  genera¬ 
tions  has  been  universally  regarded  as  the  lightest, 
the  most  imperceptible,  the  most  utterly  tenuous  and 
evanescent  beyond  definition  or  computation;  it  is 
the  Ether.  The  Ether  is  supposed  to  permeate 
everything,  to  be  everywhere,  to  penetrate  all  ob¬ 
jects,  to  extend  throughout  all  space.  The  Earth 
moves  through  it;  the  sun  and  all  the  stars  have 
their  being  and  their  motion  in  and  through  the 
Ether;  it  carries  light  and  electricity  and  all  forms 
of  radiation.  Nobody  has  ever  seen  it,  or  rend¬ 
ered  it  evident  to  touch  or  to  any  other  sense.  It 
escapes  all  efforts  to  feel  it,  to  weigh  it,  to  subject 
it  to  any  kind  of  scientific  experiment.  It  plays 
no  part  in  mechanics.  It  neither  adds  to  nor  takes 
away  from  the  width  or  substance  of  any  known 
substance.  We  are  assured  by  some  of  the  highest 
authorities  that  the  ether  is  millions  of  times  more 
dense  than  platinum,  one  of  the  most  solid  metals 
known.” 

Surrounding  us  and  filling  what  we  know  as 
space  and  permeating  all  things,  is  that  substance 


128  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


termed  Ether.  It  is  a  subtile  essence  hard  to  define 
that  is  in  the  atmosphere  we  breathe,  highly  sensi¬ 
tive,  through  which  the  light  of  the  sun  travels  in 
undulating  waves,  but  just  as  much  a  substance  as 
the  very  rocks  and  stones.  There  is  a  gross  Ether 
and  there  is  also  a  refined  Ether.  Through  the 
medium  of  the  grosser  Ether  we  send  our  ether- 
grams,  but  of  the  finer,  more  sensitive  ether,  we 
know  but  little. 

The  suggestion  that  all  life  has  etheric  form  is 
entirely  new.  Whether  we  are  advanced  enough  to 
appreciate  a  proposition  so  beyond  our  experience, 
is  a  question,  but  a  moment’s  reflection,  and  we  do 
comprehend  that  all  life  comes  from  the  invisible, 
and  ultimately  goes  back  to  the  invisible.  The  un¬ 
seen  then  is  the  real,  and  the  seen,  the  result  of  in¬ 
visible  causes.  There  is  a  world  within  a  world, 
all  contained  in  this  wondrous  universe.  We  see 
and  touch  only  the  outer  garment  of  the  etheric  uni¬ 
verse  which,  temporarily  clothed  with  gross  ma¬ 
terial,  is  working  out  its  development.  A  directive 
intelligence  has  made  all  Nature’s  laws,  through 
which  each  inhabited  planet  moves  and  has  its  be¬ 
ing,  has  its  domain  in  the  invisible.  The  invisible 
then  becomes  a  legitimate  field  of  inquiry. 

I  am  assured  by  those  versed  in  the  physics  of  the 
after-life,  with  whom  I  have  speech,  that  all  life, 


MAN’S  ETHERIC  BODY 


129 


down  to  the  atom,  and  beyond,  has  etheric  form; 
that  every  atom  that  makes  up  the  mass  of  rock; 
that  every  molecule  of  earth  that  covers  the  barren 
stone;  that  every  grain  of  sand  that  forms  the  ocean 
shore;  that  every  seed,  and  plant,  and  shrub,  and 
tree;  that  every  drop  of  water  that  flows  in  creeks, 
falls  as  rain,  or  constitutes  the  lakes  and  seas — all 
have  etheric  form.  The  etheric  requires  for 
growth  a  covering  of  matter  lower  in  vibration  than 
itself,  the  same  as  the  seed  planted  in  the  earth, 
and  in  that  outer  garment  it  increases  and  reaches 
a  higher  development.  No  life  force  can  exist  in 
the  physical  unless  it  has  a  garment  suitable  for 
that  purpose.  Dissociate  the  etheric  form  from  die 
outer  garment,  and  the  individual  can  no  longer 
remain  an  inhabitant  of  this  sphere,  dissolution  has 
taken  place.  Could  we  follow  into  the  conditions 
beyond  we  would  ultimately  find  that  every  star 
and  constellation  has  etheric  as  well  as  physical 
form,  and  that  they  are  visible  only  because  they 
are  clothed  with  gross  material,  the  same  as  our 
own  planet,  for  all  laws  hold  continuity  throughout 
the  Universe. 

It  is  the  etheric  body  that  sees,  hears,  feels, 
smells,  and  tastes,  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the 
physical  body  has  none  of  the  five  senses  when 
separated  from  the  etheric.  The  ear,  for  instance, 


130  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


with  its  complicated  chamber  and  auditory  nerves, 
really  hears  through  the  etheric  brain.  Sever  the 
nerves,  destroy  the  tympanum,  and  you  destroy  the 
communication;  put  any  of  the  very  fine  mechanism 
of  the  auditory  chamber  out  of  commission,  and 
you  either  cannot  hear  at  all,  or  at  best  very  im¬ 
perfectly.  Every  concussion  causes  an  ever  widen¬ 
ing  circle  in  the  atmosphere,  that  is,  in  the  ether  of 
the  atmosphere,  which  at  last  reaches  the  auditory 
chamber,  communicates  with  those  fine  nerves  and 
with  the  brain.  By  that  wonderful  process  we 
understand  the  difference  between  harmony  and  in¬ 
harmony,  between  sweet  sounds  and  discords. 
Similarly,  through  a  disturbance  set  up  in  the 
ether  we  understand  language. 

Horses,  cattle  and  sheep  will  exist  and  wax  fat 
on  grass  and  water.  Put  them  all  together  in  an 
enclosed  field  in  a  tropical  country  and  keep  them 
there  indefinitly,  what  happens?  They  feed  on 
identically  the  same  food,  and  multiply;  the  flesh 
covering  wastes  and  is  from  day  to  day  replaced,  a 
complete  change  being  ultimately  brought  about. 
Why  do  they  not  inter-breed,  why  does  each  hold 
individual  form?  It  is  solely  because  each  has  an 
invisible  form,  that  is  a  form  composed  of  matter 
in  a  very  high  state  of  vibration  which  holds  con¬ 
tinuity,  having  reached  the  state  termed  etheric,  at 


MAN’S  ETHERIG  BODY 


131 


which  point  the  life  form  neither  disintegrates  nor 
enters  into  new  combinations.  Man  differs  from 
the  animal  only  in  development.  At  the  moment 
of  conception,  he  possesses  an  etheric  body,  minute 
and  perfect  beyond  comprehension,  and  if  per¬ 
mitted  to  inhabit  the  physical  body  for  the  usual 
period  of  time,  attains  a  normal  growth. 

When  by  heat  we  break  down  the  outer  garment 
of  a  lump  of  coal,  when  the  physical  will  no  longer 
hold  the  energy,  the  life,  or  the  etheric  form,  the 
two  are  dissociated;  in  other  words,  the  energy  or 
life-form  escapes,  to  pass  into  some  other  state; 
the  outer  garment,  the  cinder  or  ash  on  the  other 
hand  returns  from  whence  it  came,  ultimately  to 
be  taken  up  by  another  form  of  life,  until  in  time 
it  shall  have  been  so  refined  that  it  will  hold  con¬ 
tinuity  because  it  has  become  etheric.  And  all  this 
to  demonstrate  that  man  is  a  part  of  one  stupendous 
whole,  evolved  from  the  etheric  life  in  the  mass,  re¬ 
fined  to  the  point  where  he  holds  individuality. 
Death,  so-called,  is  the  passing  out  of  the  individual 
spirit  or  etheric  body  from  the  flesh  covering.  Re¬ 
leased  from  that  outer  garment  it  becomes  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  a  plane  where  all  is  etheric,  but  to  the 
etheric  sense  and  touch  all  things  are  just  as  tang¬ 
ible,  real,  and  natural  as  when  in  earth  life. 

It  is  utterly  impossible  for  a  human  being  to  un- 


132  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


derstand  the  change  in  which  death  so-called  occurs 
unless  he  realizes  that  every  individual  possesses 
a  spirit  form  composed  of  etheric  atoms,  just  as 
much  matter  as  the  flesh  garment  that  is  visible 
and  tangible.  Knowing  that  fact,  he  can  then  un¬ 
derstand  that  dissolution  is  simply  the  separation 
of  the  physical  from  the  etheric  body  when  the 
former  by  accident,  disease,  or  age  can  no  longer 
obey  the  will  of  the  occupant.  When  the  physical 
body  can  no  longer  do  its  part,  the  spirit  or  etheric 
body,  by  a  natural  law,  abandons  the  flesh  garment, 
and  by  that  act  ceases  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  the 
earth-plane.  This  is  all  that  occurs  at  the  time  of 
dissolution. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  UNKNOWN  LAND 

INTO  the  frozen  north,  into  the  terrible  cold, 
at  the  cost  of  human  life  many  explorers 
from  time  to  time  have  gone  on  voyages  of 
discovery,  have  braved  the  crags  and  climbed 
mountains  of  ice,  have  faced  famine  and  desola¬ 
tion,  until  at  last  upon  the  bleak  and  barren  plane, 
a  man  has  reached  the  Pole  and  stood  upon  the  top 
of  the  earth.  Not  satisfied  that  one  place  upon 
the  earth’s  surface  should  remain  unknown,  other 
explorers  equally  courageous  have  faced  the 
storms  and  cold,  have  crossed  the  crevasses,  have 
braved  famine,  until  at  last  they  have  found  the 
Southern  Pole.  Man  has  gone  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  has  sounded  the  seas,  mapped  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  and  now  all  lands  are  said  to  have  been  ex¬ 
plored.  But  no!  there  is  another  land,  an  unknown 
land,  tangible,  material,  actual,  real,  and  more  in¬ 
tense  and  beautiful  than  any  now  known;  this  is  the 
next  field  for  exploration. 

Into  that  land  all  the  countless  dead  of  all  the 

ages  past  have  gone,  all  the  living  and  all  those 

133 


134  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


who  will  in  the  ages  yet  to  come  inhabit  for  a  little 
time  this  physical  world  will  go.  This  being  a 
self-evident  truth,  what  more  important  field  of  in¬ 
vestigation  can  there  be?  Compared  with  it  the 
discovery  of  the  Poles  or  the  opening  of  the  Dark 
Continent  is  insignificant. 

If  there  is  a  tangible  and  material,  yet  unknown 
land  beyond  the  physical,  inhabited  by  people,  why 
has  it  not  already  been  discovered?  The  answer 
is  simple.  Ignorance  and  superstition  have  been 
barriers  more  difficult  to  climb  over  than  mountains 
of  ice  and  snow,  and  notwithstanding  the  millions 
who  have  gone  into  that  unknown  land,  little  effort 
has  been  made  to  ascertain  anything  concerning  it. 
An  illustration  may  help  to  explain  the  reason  for 
such  indifference.  Before  language  was  written 
and  largely  before  the  advent  of  the  printing  press, 
knowledge  was  transmitted  by  word  of  mouth,  and 
legends  and  traditions  were  handed  down  from 
one  generation  to  another.  Some  of  these  were  in¬ 
corporated  in  books,  and  on  account  of  being  in 
print  they  found  acceptance  as  facts.  Chief 
among  them  were  the  stories  of  the  creation  and  of 
the  conditions  following  dissolution,  and  men  with¬ 
out  thinking  for  themselves  or  requiring  proof,  have 
blindly  accepted  legends  and  traditions  in  place  of 
facts  based  on  laws  that  appeal  to  reason.  Herein 


THE  UNKNOWN  LAND 


135 


lies,  in  part,  an  explanation  of  the  indifference. 

When  man  becomes  satisfied  that  beyond  the 
physical  there  is  another  world,  inhabited  by  all 
the  countless  so-called  dead,  where  those  whom  he 
has  loved  and  lost,  live  and  work,  the  purse-strings 
will  be  loosened,  means  will  be  provided,  the  spirit 
of  exploration  will  be  revived,  and  others  as  brave 
as  Columbus,  as  reckless  as  Cortez,  as  heroic  as 
Livingston,  as  fearless  as  Perry,  will  become 
pioneers  in  the  unmapped  wilderness  of  the  Un¬ 
known  Land.  By  their  discoveries  the  world  will 
be  enriched  a  thousand  times  more  than  by  the  ex¬ 
plorations  of  the  ages  past  into  the  waste  places  of 
the  Poles.  But  until  the  public  intellect  is  startled, 
until  the  thought  of  the  world  is  aroused,  a  few  of 
us  unaided  must  work  alone. 

In  the  after-life  I  have  father,  mother,  brother, 
and  son.  Others  similarly  situated  may  be  satis¬ 
fied  with  the  orthodox  teaching  as  to  where  they  are 
and  their  condition,  but  I  have  not  been,  and  I 
have  laboured  to  know  something  of  their  daily  life 
and  how  and  where  in  the  vast  Universe  they  live 
and  work.  Much  has  been  written  about  spirits 
and  spirit-life,  of  a  Heaven  and  a  Hell  where  the 
so-called  dead  exist,  but  it  is  so  hazy,  indefinite, 
and  theoretical  that  it  has  not  appealed  to  my  reason 
or  satisfied  my  desire  for  facts. 


136  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Do  the  dead  live  in  houses?  Why  not?  The 
plane  where  they  live  being  material,  why  should 
they  not  build  homes,  furnish  and  beautify  them? 
All  the  material  in  the  universe  is  not  confined  to 
the  earthland.  Are  they  clothed?  Why  not? 
Their  bodies  being  no  less  visible  than  when  in  the 
earth-life,  they,  having  suitable  material  adapted  to 
their  necessities,  make  and  clothe  their  nakedness, 
for  modesty  does  not  cease  with  dissolution.  Do 
they  require  food?  Why  not?  Their  digestive 
organs  were  not  destroyed  in  making  the  change. 
True  the  process  is  in  a  great  measure  refined  so 
that  they  take  the  essence  instead  of  the  substance, 
as  mortals  do.  In  dissolution,  do  those  addicted  to 
opiates,  liquors,  or  tobacco,  lose  the  desire,  is  an¬ 
other  question.  No;  in  earth  life,  it  was  not  the 
flesh  tissue  that  craved  opiates,  but  the  nervous  sys¬ 
tem,  the  etheric  body,  and  there  being  no  change 
in  the  etheric  body,  the  craving  continues  and  must 
ultimately  be  overcome.  The  physical  cannot  en¬ 
ter  the  etheric  kingdom  of  God.  Are  the  so-called 
dead  homeless  in  going  into  the  next  life?  A  very 
natural  query.  Some  people  I  am  told  have  lived 
such  degenerate  lives  that  they  find  nothing  wait¬ 
ing  in  the  great  beyond.  A  home  may  have  been 
constructed  by  those  who  have  preceded  them,  but 
they  may  be  unable  to  reach  it  for  years  to  come. 


THE  UNKNOWN  LAND 


137 


However,  those  in  the  after-life  ordinarily  work 
and  labour  to  create  a  home  and  make  it  ready 
for  those  whom  they  love  to  enter  at  once  when 
the  great  change  comes,  just  as  preparation  is  made 
when  the  new-born  child  is  expected  into  this  world 
of  men. 

I  know  something  of  the  difficulty  of  compre¬ 
hending  that  the  invisible  can  possibly  contain  any¬ 
thing  real  and  tangible.  We  are  in  the  habit  of 
thinking,  generally  speaking,  that  nothing  outside 
the  visible  exists;  one  has  never  seen  that  sub¬ 
stance  of  which  life  is  composed;  one  has  never 
seen  life  because  such  substance  is  beyond  our 
vision.  We  ordinarily  cannot  see  the  very  great 
or  the  very  small,  only  matter  where  movement  is 
between  certain  fixed  points,  and  we  know  little 
of  what  lies  above  or  below.  With  the  microscope 
and  a  drop  of  water  it  was  first  possible  to  discover 
minute  matter;  with  the  telescope  we  have  discerned 
millions  of  stars  and  constellations,  composing  the 
family  of  the  Universe,  which  move  with  perfect 
order  and  precision.  The  possibilities  have  not 
been  exhausted,  and  all  the  secrets  of  the  Universe 
will  not  be  discovered  by  the  inhabitants  of  this 
plane  of  consciousness.  All  discoveries,  and  all 
progress  are  the  result  of  research  for  knowledge, 
and  are  gained  by  effort. 


138  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


When  I  was  first  told  that  those  in  the  after-life 
were  real  people  and  lived  in  a  world  as  tangible 
as  this,  the  subject  was  beyond  my  mental  grasp, 
for  I  had  been  taught  that  the  world  of  spirit  was 
intangible,  and  existed  in  space,  with  no  suggestion 
that  what  we  call  matter  existed  beyond  the  visible ; 
and  I  never  could  grasp  its  reality  until  I  was 
taught  that  in  this,  our  present  plane  of  existence, 
we  realize  matter  only  in  a  certain  mode  of  motion 
when  it  may  be  said  to  have  three  dimensions — 
length,  breadth,  and  thickness.  If  others  must 
undergo  the  process  which  I  have  needed,  they 
should  adopt  the  same  method,  and  not  attempt  to 
grasp  conditions  prevailing  in  the  after-life  until 
by  research  and  deductive  reasoning  they  have  come 
to  comprehend  matter  in  its  higher  and  more  re¬ 
fined  forms  and  in  its  different  modes  of  motion. 
After  reaching  that  point  they  will  not  find  it  diffi¬ 
cult  to  appreciate  a  condition,  beyond  this  crude 
plane  in  which  people,  once  inhabitants  of  this 
world,  live  similar  lives,  with  similar  environment. 
Having  cast  off  the  slow  vibrating  flesh  garment 
called  the  body  they  find  everything  as  material 
as  before.  I  am  trying  to  explain  this  subject  in  a 
simple  manner,  so  that  any  mind  capable  of  reason¬ 
ing  and  thinking  may  understand.  I  find  it  even 
then  difficult,  for  the  proposition  is  entirely  new  in 


THE  UNKNOWN  LAND 


139 


physics.  When  this  fact  is  finally  accepted,  think¬ 
ing  minds  will  work  it  out  in  detail  and  present  it 
in  a  thousand  provable  ways  of  which  I  have  not 
thought,  and  then  people  will  wonder  that  the  facts 
were  never  worked  out  before.  In  time  all  will 
come  to  know  that  this,  like  all  other  natural 
changes,  is  extremely  simple. 

Knowledge  of  the  environment  of  the  next  plane, 
and  of  the  conditions  there  prevailing  can  only 
come  from  those  who  are  there,  and  it  is  from  such 
that  I  have  obtained  my  information.  Let  those 
who  challenge  the  statement  that  I  have  had  speech 
with  the  inhabitants  of  the  after-life  remember  this 
fact — that  on  an  average  of  once  a  week  for  20 
years,  under  scientific  conditions,  I  have  done 
that  identical  thing  and  have  had  speech  with  thou¬ 
sands  of  diff  erent  individuals  who  have  proved  their 
identity.  Any  one  who  would  deny  that  fact  should 
have  had  equal  experience,  in  order  to  be  qualified 
to  speak  on  the  subject.  So  far  as  I  know  no  man 
has  ever  had  the  opportunity  or  received  the  in¬ 
formation  as  to  the  actual  conditions  prevailing  in 
the  after-life  to  a  greater  extent  than  I  have. 

It  is  a  fact  to  be  noted,  that  the  information  as 
to  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  after-life,  ob¬ 
tained  by  all  careful  psychic  researches  substan¬ 
tially  agrees. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PERSONAL  IDENTITY 


PERSONAL  identity  has  been  the  stumbling 
block  of  psychic  investigators.  In  my 
work,  on  account  of  the  darkness  re¬ 
quired,  I  have  to  depend  upon  the  voice  and  the  in¬ 
formation  given  for  proof  of  identity  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual.  I  have  had  in  this  regard  some  very  re¬ 
markable  proofs. 

It  is  only  by  showing  that  people  in  the  after¬ 
life  have  material  bodies  and  live  under  material 
conditions  that  we  can  appreciate  how  they  may 
speak  with  direct  voice  and  prove  their  identity. 
Assuming  that  they  have  bodies,  that  they  retain  the 
same  etheric  form  that  was  clothed  with  the  flesh 
garment,  and  that  they  live  in  a  material  world, 
we  do  not  find  the  fact  that  they  speak  to  us  and 
communicate  with  us  in  various  ways  startling; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  reasonable  and  natural  not 
only  that  they  should  do  so,  but  that  they  should 
be  just  as  anxious  to  communicate  with  us  as  we  are 

to  communicate  with  them. 

140 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY 


141 


I  recall  an  incident  that  will  appeal  to  the  purely 
materialistic.  I  was  one  of  my  father’s  executors, 
and  after  his  dissolution  and  the  settlement  of  his 
estate,  speaking  to  me  from  the  next  plane,  he 
told  me  one  night  that  I  had  overlooked  an  item  that 
he  wanted  to  mention  to  me. 

I  replied:  “Your  mind  was  ever  centered  on 
the  accumulation  of  money.  Why  take  up  the 
time  that  is  so  limited  with  the  discussion  of  your 
estate.  It  has  already  been  divided.” 

“Yes,”  he  answered,  “I  know  that,  but  I  worked 
too  hard  for  my  money  to  have  it  lost,  and  there  is 
an  asset  remaining  that  you  have  not  discovered.” 

“Well,”  I  said,  “if  that  be  true,  tell  me  about 
it.” 

He  answered. — “Some  years  before  I  left,  I 
loaned  a  small  sum  of  money  to  Susan  Stone,  who 
resided  in  Pennsylvania,  and  I  took  from  her 
a  promissory  note  upon  which  under  the  laws  of 
that  State  I  was  entitled  to  enter  a  judgment  at  once 
without  suit.  I  was  somewhat  anxious  about  the 
loan;  so  before  its  maturity,  I  took  the  note  and 
filed  it  with  the  prothonotary  at  Erie,  Pennsylvania, 
and  he  entered  judgment,  which  became  a  lien  on 
her  property.  In  my  books  of  account  there  was 
no  reference  to  that  note  or  judgment.  If  you  will 
go  to  the  prothonotary’s  office  in  Erie,  you  will  find 


142  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  judgment  on  record,  and  I  want  you  to  collect 
it.  There  are  many  things  that  you  don’t  know 
about,  and  this  is  one  of  them.” 

I  was  much  surprised  at  the  information  thus 
received  and  naturally  sent  for  a  transcript  of  that 
judgment.  I  found  it  entered  October  21,  1896, 
and  with  that  evidence  of  the  indebtedness  I  col¬ 
lected  from  the  judgment  debtor  $70  with  interest. 
I  question  if  any  one  knew  of  that  transaction  be¬ 
sides  the  makers  of  the  note,  and  the  prothonotary 
at  Erie.  Certainly  I  did  not  know  about  it.  I  had 
no  reason  to  suspect  it.  The  psychic  present  at 
that  interview  could  not  have  known  about  the 
matter,  and  I  certainly  collected  the  money.  My 
father’s  voice  was  clearly  recognizable  on  that  occa¬ 
sion,  as  it  has  been  on  hundreds  of  others,  and  I 
cite  this  instance  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  meas¬ 
ure  everything  from  a  monetary  standpoint. 

Dr.  Isaac  J.  Funk,  a  man  of  much  learning,  spent 
forty  years  in  psychic  research.  He  published  the 
result  of  his  investigation  and  many  of  his  con¬ 
clusions,  but  he  always  lived  in  awe  of  the  criticism 
of  science.  I  spent  many  hours  with  Dr.  Funk  go¬ 
ing  over  the  details  of  my  own  work,  and  I  discussed 
with  him  many  of  the  problems  with  which  we  had 
to  deal.  He  was  much  interested  in  the  investiga¬ 
tions  that  I  was  making  with  Mrs.  French,  and  for 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY 


143 


that  reason  I  arranged  for  her  to  go  to  New  York 
where  she  spent  eleven  days  with  him  and  his  as¬ 
sociates.  There,  under  conditions  that  he  desired, 
she  demonstrated  the  work  she  was  doing  with  me. 
The  result  he  published  in  his  “Psychic  Riddle.” 

He  was  always  anxious  for  proof  that  the  voices 
which  he  heard  were  independent,  and  he  wanted 
evidence  of  the  identity  of  those  with  whom  I  had 
speech.  These  points  he  regarded  as  important  to 
prove  the  continuity  of  life,  and  in  his  work  he  was 
unable  to  satisfy  himself  concerning  them.  His 
method  was  to  attempt  to  prove  a  fact  by  the  proc¬ 
ess  of  elimination,  that  is,  to  prove  truths  by  dem¬ 
onstrating  their  opposite.  He,  like  all  other  scien¬ 
tific  men,  attempted  to  rear  a  structure  by  tearing 
the  structure  down.  This  process  has  impeded 
the  progress  of  nearly  all  psychic  investigators,  and 
I  often  said  to  him  that  one  should  seek  what  he 
wanted  to  find  with  open  and  receptive  mind,  al¬ 
ways  having  in  his  thought  that  conditions  cannot  be 
changed  to  satisfy  any  one’s  particular  notion;  that 
we  must  accept  conditions  as  we  find  them  and 
make  them  better,  to  enable  us  to  gain  the  end  de¬ 
sired.  In  all  of  Dr.  Funk’s  published  works  he 
left  a  loophole  in  his  conclusions,  that  he  might 
avoid  criticism  should  he  be  found  in  error. 

Some  time  ago  the  doctor  left  his  physical  body, 


144  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


and  one  night  soon  after,  during  one  of  the  last 
sessions  I  had  with  Mrs.  French,  a  man’s  voice 
spoke  my  name.  The  tone  was  familiar,  but  I 
could  not  associate  the  voice  with  any  one  whom  I 
had  known  in  the  earth-life,  although  I  knew  a  spirit 
was  speaking. 

I  replied,  “Your  voice  is  familiar,  but  I  do  not 
recognize  it.” 

He  replied,  “I  am  Dr.  Isaac  Funk.  I  have  been 
out  of  the  body  but  a  short  time  and  being  interested 
in  your  work,  I  have  been  permitted  to  come.” 

I  then  said:  “You  may  be  Dr.  Funk,  as  you 
claim,  but  we  cannot  permit  you  to  consume  our 
time  unless  you  establish  your  identity.  This  is 
one  of  the  rules  that  we  adopted  some  time  since, 
for  the  reason  that,  knowing  the  person,  we  can 
form  some  judgment  as  to  the  value  of  what  he 
may  say.  If  you  are  Dr.  Funk  and  desire  to  con¬ 
tinue  this  conversation,  you  must  establish  that 
fact.” 

He  quickly  responded:  “You  are  entirely  right 
about  that;  what  you  ask  is  fair.  I  ought  to  be  able 
to  establish  my  identity.” 

I  said:  “Certainly,  if  you  are  Dr.  Funk  you 
can  give  us  some  proof  of  your  identity.  During 
your  earth  life  you  always  made  a  great  point 
of  establishing  identity.” 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY 


145 


Then  he  enquired:  “How  shall  it  be  done?” 

I  answered:  “That  is  not  for  me  to  suggest. 
You  know  how  technical  the  body  of  scientific 
gentlemen  to  which  you  belong  always  is.  If  you 
are  going  to  have  a  test  here,  we  want  it  to  be  evi¬ 
dential.  If  you  are  going  to  prove  your  identity, 
you  must  do  it  without  suggestion  from  me.” 

He  replied,  after  a  pause:  “Identity  was  what 
I  invariably  wanted  satisfactorily  proved.  I  re¬ 
call  a  conversation  I  had  with  you  in  my  private 
office  at  which  no  one  was  present  but  ourselves.” 

“Yes,”  I  suggested,  “we  had  many  such  inter¬ 
views.” 

He  then  said:  “I  refer  to  one  at  which  I  asked 
you  to  make  a  special  test  at  one  of  your  meetings 
with  Mrs.  French.  I  asked  that  when  some  one 
with  an  independent  voice  was  speaking,  you  put 
your  hand  upon  the  table  and  have  Mrs.  French 
put  her  mouth  upon  your  hand;  you  were  then  to 
place  your  free  hand  over  her  head,  holding  it 
firmly,  and  in  that  situation  see  if  you  could  hear 
the  independent  voice.  I  wanted  such  evidence  to 
demonstrate  that  Mrs.  French  did  not  do  the  talk¬ 
ing.  No  one  knew  of  that  conversation  but  our¬ 
selves,  and  that  ought  to  be  proof  to  you  that  I  am 
Dr.  Funk.” 

I  replied:  “Yes,  I  do  recall  that  conversation 


146  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


at  the  time  and  place.  I  now  recognize  your  voice, 
and  your  proof  is  satisfactory.” 

I  then  put  my  hand  on  the  table.  Mrs.  French 
at  my  suggestion  put  her  mouth  upon  the  back  of 
my  hand,  I  put  my  free  hand  over  the  back  of  her 
head,  holding  it  firmly,  and  then  I  said: 

“Is  this  what  you  asked  me  to  do?” 

Dr.  Funk  replied:  “Yes.” 

I  immediately  said:  “Dr.  Funk,  you  do  the 
talking,  and  we  will  demonstrate  that  your  voice  is 
independent.” 

Afterward  there  was  a  general  talk  between  Dr. 
Funk,  certain  of  my  group  of  co-workers  upon  his 
side  of  life,  and  me,  and  some  plain  things  were 
said.  I  told  Dr.  Funk  that  because  of  his  promi¬ 
nence,  and  as  one  who  had  investigated  this  im¬ 
portant  subject  for  many  years,  he  could  have  been 
a  great  force  for  good;  that  many  people  in  this 
world  of  men  were  interested  in  him  and  his  writ¬ 
ings  and  were  guided  by  his  conclusions,  but  that 
he  never  published  them  in  full,  for  which  reason 
his  readers  could  not  reach  a  better  conclusion 
than  he  did.  I  told  him  that  he  had  failed  at  the 
crucial  moment,  and  had  nullified  the  good  he 
could  have  done.  I  added  that  I  regarded  this  as 
a  great  misfortune  not  only  to  him,  but  to  the  world 
at  large. 


PERSONAL  IDENTITY 


147 


He  replied:  “I  realize  that  now  more  than 
ever.  It  is  a  fact  that  I  was  afraid  of  the  criticism 
of  men  of  science.  I  now  regret  very  much  that 
I  did  not  fully  publish  my  conclusions.  In  my 
own  mind  there  was  no  doubt.” 

A  spirit  answered  and  said  to  him: — 

“You  were  the  custodian  of  much  knowledge. 
Through  your  investigations  you  learned  many 
things.  By  reason  of  your  position  you  could 
have  done  much  good.  That  was  your  stumbling 
block,  and  before  you  can  progress,  you  must  be¬ 
come  strong  where  you  were  weak.” 

In  my  investigations,  covering  many  years,  in 
the  room  in  my  own  home  devoted  to  such  work 
thousands  of  men  whom  I  have  known  personally 
have  talked  with  me,  using  their  own  tongues.  I 
have  recognized  their  voices;  they  have  recalled 
and  related  countless  facts  and  incidents  of  their 
daily  life  and  have  proved  beyond  question  their 
identity,  no  less  convincing  than  in  the  two  cases 
to  which  I  have  referred. 

Again,  I  have  talked  with  many  whose  personal 
acquaintance  I  did  not  enjoy  when  they  were  in 
this  life,  but  through  this  intercourse  I  have  come 
to  know  them  well,  and  admire  them  much.  I  have 
heard  on  many  occasions  the  speech  of  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll,  which  no  man  could  imitate,  speech  as 


148  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


eloquent  as  when  in  his  lectures  he  held  great  au¬ 
diences  spellbound.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  has 
honoured  me  with  his  friendship  and  delivered 
many  lectures  on  conditions  prevailing  beyond  the 
physical.  DeWitt  Talmage  has  talked  on  various 
occasions  of  the  duties  of  the  ministry,  and  of  the 
conditions  resulting  to  the  individual  though 
teaching  things  that  were  unknown.  He  found 
that  there  was  no  progress  possible  in  the  after¬ 
life  for  one  occupying  the  position  of  spiritual 
leader  when  here,  until  he  had  searched  out  in 
his  plane  all  those  who  had  followed  his  teaching, 
and  had  brought  them  to  the  truth;  moreover  he 
found  that  he  must  stand  and  wait  until  the  com¬ 
ing  of  those  still  in  the  earth-life  in  order  that 
his  error  should  be  corrected  at  the  earliest  possi¬ 
ble  moment. 

To  promulgate  unknown  or  impracticable  teach¬ 
ings  while  on  this  earth-plane  is  a  serious  matter, 
and  results  in  punishment  in  the  after-life. 


CHAPTER  XV 


SPHERES  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE 

EARLY  in  my  research  I  understood  that 
life  continued  beyond  the  grave;  that 
personality  was  not  lost;  that  when  one 
had  compensated  for  all  wrongs  and  made  them 
right,  he  would  progress;  but  it  has  taken  many 
years  to  reach  these  advanced  spirits,  and  from 
them  learn  just  what  was  beyond  the  first  sphere, 
where  our  work  had  hitherto  largely  been  con¬ 
fined.  We  have  often  asked  what  was  beyond,  or 
to  what  progression  led,  and  have  as  often  been 
told  to  have  patience,  that  when  we  were  prepared 
to  receive  and  to  understand,  the  knowledge  would 
be  given. 

At  last  the  knowledge  that  has  long  been  de¬ 
sired  has  been  revealed,  and  we  find  that  the  fu¬ 
ture  life  has  seven  spheres,  each  containing  many 
planes;  they  are  as  follows: 

1.  Restitution. 

2.  Preparation. 


150  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


3.  Instruction. 

4.  Trial  and  Temptation. 

5.  Truth. 

6.  Harmony. 

7.  Exaltation. 

I  have  written  of  the  conditions  in  the  first 
sphere  as  I  know  them  from  work  done  there  and 
general  information  given  me  by  spirit  people; 
but  in  taking  up  the  spheres  beyond  the  first,  I  am 
now  able  to  give  the  language  of  those  who  live  in 
them  and  who  describe  them.  One  said: 

“I  know  what  we  all  know, — that  there  are 
seven  spheres.  I  have  just  reached  the  third. 
Sometimes  a  spirit  can  speak  from  his  sphere  to 
the  next  higher,  as  you  do  while  in  the  body,  but 
only  in  the  same  way.  I  mean  that  there  is  no 
mingling  together.  When  a  spirit  goes  from  one 
sphere  to  another,  it  is  quite  unlike  dissolution 
in  earth-life.  He  is  warned  that  the  change  is  near 
and  has  time  to  put  his  mind  into  a  higher  plane 
of  thought  so  that  he  will  be  prepared  to  meet 
the  new  life.  He  says  farewell  to  all  his  friends. 
They  join  in  a  general  thanksgiving  and  celebra¬ 
tion,  all  congratulating  and  helping  him  on  his 
way  by  strong  uplifting  thoughts.  When  the 
time  comes,  he  is  put  quietly  to  sleep,  with  the 


SPHERES  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE  151 


thought  dominant  in  his  mind  that  he  is  to  make 
the  change.  When  he  awakes,  he  is  in  his  new 
home  in  the  next  higher  sphere.  He  has  disap¬ 
peared  from  the  old.  There  is  no  old  body  to  bury 
and  decay.  Each  change  is  for  a  higher  and  bet¬ 
ter  life,  and  the  home  awaiting  is  more  beautiful, 
as  he  builds  with  a  surer,  wiser  hand,  or,  rather, 
spirit.  His  home  ceases  to  be  among  his  former 
friends  when  this  change  comes.  Thought  has 
fitted  him  to  progress,  and  when  that  thought  which 
held  him  to  the  lower  plane  has  ceased,  the  embodi¬ 
ment  of  the  spirit,  which  is  held  together  by  his 
thought,  is  visible  no  longer. 

“Each  new  change  is  more  difficult  to  explain 
to  you  than  the  one  preceding.  It  is  simply  a 
higher  life  and  a  busy  one  in  which  to  develop  our¬ 
selves  along  all  lines,  especially  the  ones  suitable 
to  the  individual’s  taste.  In  this  way,  each  spirit 
becomes  better  fitted  to  be  a  teacher  and  helper. 
It  is  a  very  active,  pleasant  life,  and  sometimes 
seems  like  a  big  university  town  or  country,  with 
busy  students  hurrying  from  lecture  to  lecture 
and  class  to  class.  All  are  congenial  and  light¬ 
hearted  there. 

“In  the  lower  sphere  one  sees  much  suffering 
among  those  still  earth-bound.  They,  too,  are 
busy  working  out  past  faults  and  they  are  often 


152  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 

heavy-hearted.  Generally  speaking,  the  first 
sphere  is  the  one  where  restitution  must  be  made, 
and  where  the  final  wrenching  away  from  earth 
conditions  takes  place.  The  second  is  one  of  in¬ 
struction,  a  period  of  study,  during  which  the 
spirit  gains  knowledge  of  self  and  natural  law. 
The  third  is  one  of  teaching  those  in  the  lower 
spheres,  as  I  have  said.  The  fourth  sphere  is  one 
of  trial  and  temptation.  The  fifth  is  truth,  where 
error  and  falsehood  are  unknown.  In  the  sixth, 
all  is  harmony.  In  the  seventh,  the  spirits  reach 
the  plane  of  exaltation  and  become  one  with  the 
great  spirit  that  rules  the  universe. 

“There  are  others,  more  advanced  than  I,  who 
can  better  tell  you  of  the  spheres  beyond.  I  have 
not  been  to  the  fourth,  and  only  know  of  it  as  you 
do,  by  the  teaching  of  those  who  are  there.  We 
are  told  that  the  spirits  in  the  sphere  of  exaltation 
do  not  even  there  lose  individuality.  They  are  em¬ 
bodied  in  all  the  beauty  and  good  of  the  universe. 
I  do  not  know  that  I  can  make  my  meaning  clear. 
Although  they  keep  individuality,  they  permeate 
the  universe.  They  have  become  so  great  and 
universal,  we  sometimes  think  they  go  beyond  and 
must  lose  their  personality;  but  we  have  no  definite 
knowledge,  and  it  is  generally  accepted  they  do 
not.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  or  appreciate 


SPHERES  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE  153 


what  this  last  sphere  is,  the  development  is  so  be¬ 
yond  our  comprehension.  Those  in  the  second 
sphere  do  little,  except  to  fit  themselves  for  a 
broader  and  better  work.  Before  reaching  this 
condition  they  have  freed  their  spirit  from  the 
burden  of  wrong  done  in  the  body,  repaid  every 
debt  due  mankind,  dispelled  the  darkness  of  the 
first  sphere.  They  work  with  open  eyes  and  clear 
spiritual  vision,  and  are  at  peace  with  all.  This 
must  precede  the  sphere  of  study  and  development. 
I  have  classes  on  purity,  beauty,  and  patience,  and 
there  are  classes  on  every  conceivable  subject, — 
music,  chemistry,  everything.  They  are  different 
from  those  in  earth-life,  and  one  has  to  adopt  dif¬ 
ferent  ideas.  One  of  our  engineers  magnetizes 
your  room  each  time  you  hear  our  voices.  It  is 
easier  for  those  who  have  advanced  to  higher  life 
to  reach  us  than  for  us  to  reach  you;  there  are  not 
so  many  barriers.  Yes,  we  always  have  places 
that  resemble  homes.  Thought  is  not  indefinite, 
and  that  makes  our  homes,  and  while  we  keep  that 
thought,  our  homes  are  permanent.  You  ask 
where  is  that  home  located.  I  would  say  to  you 
that  all  that  is  space  is  peopled  with  spirits.” 

This  lecture  gave  to  us  the  spheres  of  progres¬ 
sion.  As  you  see,  we  were  told  not  only  their 
names,  but  something  of  the  occupations  that  are 


154  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


pursued  in  the  higher  life.  Not  much  can  he 
told,  I  assume,  but  possibly  all  that  a  finite  mind 
can  grasp.  I  believe  what  I  have  written,  not  only 
because  I  know  the  one  who  talked,  but  because  it 
appeals  to  reason,  and  is  in  harmony  with  natural 
law,  as  I  understand  it. 

True,  it  is  hard  to  understand  where  these 
spheres  are,  but  there  are  many  things  quite  as 
difficult  of  comprehension.  Astronomical  instru¬ 
ments  have  shown  that  it  is  ninety-three  millions 
of  miles  to  the  sun,  but  this  really  conveys  noth¬ 
ing  to  the  mind,  because  one  cannot  comprehend 
such  a  distance.  We  know  that  light  travels  at 
the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand 
miles  a  second,  but  what  that  rate  of  speed  is  we 
cannot  understand,  for  there  is  nothing  tangible 
with  which  to  compare  it.  Our  actual  knowledge 
of  electricity,  of  magnetism,  or  even  of  gravitation 
is  limited,  as  are  all  of  Nature’s  laws.  Then,  is  it 
strange  that  one  finds  difficulty  in  appreciating 
what  space  is  and  how  it  is  peopled?  This  thought 
of  ours  is  even  now  free  and  can  pass  through  space, 
but  it  goes  with  closed  eyes,  hears  no  sounds,  and 
feels  no  touch.  At  dissolution,  each  sense  is  quick¬ 
ened,  and  all  life  that  fills  space  is  visible  to  the 
spiritual  senses  and  tangible  to  spiritual  touch  and 
brain.  Space  must  then  take  form,  substance,  and 


SPHERES  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE  155 

reality, — in  a  world  of  thought,  boundless  and 
endless. 

One  in  the  after-life  gave  me  a  description  of 
the  spirit  home  of  a  great,  splendid  mother,  built 
by  the  labour  of  love  and  ceaseless  charity, — in  the 
physical  as  well  as  in  the  spirit  plane  in  which  she 
now  resides, — one  who  worked  long  and  earnestly 
to  make  women  understand  the  truth  so  that  they 
might  live  nearer  to  the  best  in  nature.  Here  is 
the  description  as  it  was  given  me: 

“Before  me  is  the  interior  of  a  splendid  home, 
the  home  made  by  a  spirit,  created  and  huilded  by 
the  thoughts,  acts,  and  works  of  one  who,  thirty- 
two  years  ago,  lived  on  the  material  plane.  The 
room  opening  before  me  seems  like  pure  white 
marble  with  lofty  ceilings;  around  the  four  sides 
runs  a  broad  balcony  supported  by  columns  grace¬ 
fully  turned;  from  a  point  beyond  the  centre  is  a 
broad  stairway  curving  outward;  at  its  foot,  on 
each  side,  are  niches  filled  with  beautiful  statuary. 
Going  up  the  stairs  now,  I  find  each  step  a  different 
colour,  yet  all  blending  into  one;  on  all  sides  of 
this  upper  gallery  are  windows  through  which  come 
soft  rays  of  light.  Opening  off  the  sides  are 
rooms;  and,  as  I  look,  a  door  opens  and  a  beauti¬ 
ful  spirit  comes  out,  taking  on,  as  she  enters,  the 
old  material  condition  that  she  may  be  recognized. 


156  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


She  has  reached  maturity  in  years,  and  has  a  face 
of  rare  gentleness — the  beauty  of  purity, — she 
smiles  as  we  describe  her  and  her  home  to  you. 
With  her  is  a  daughter  just  reaching  womanhood; 
one  that  never  lived  the  earth-life  but  was  prema¬ 
turely  bom.  These  two,  drawn  by  the  invisible 
bond  of  affection,  have  builded  this  home  and  made 
it  rich  with  love. 

“Passing  down  the  corridor  now,  the  mother’s 
arm  about  the  daughter,  they  approach  the  other 
end  of  the  building  and  descend  a  stairway  similar 
to  the  first,  and  go  out  upon  a  broad  terrace,  along 
walks  bordered  with  flowers,  into  the  garden  of 
happiness.  Turning  now  and  looking  toward  a 
valley,  I  see  many  trees  heavy  with  foliage,  and 
through  them  I  behold  the  waters  of  a  lake,  rich  as 
an  emerald  in  colour. 

“About  the  vaulted  room  which  I  have  de¬ 
scribed  are  many  others  of  like  material,  filled 
with  all  that  this  mother  loves.  Books  that  she 
uses  in  her  work  are  seen ;  pictures,  created  by  acts 
of  tenderness,  adorn  the  walls.  Musical  instru¬ 
ments  unlike  those  of  earth  await  spirit-touch. 
This  is  a  home  where  girls,  just  budding  into 
womanhood,  are  taught  purity — this  is  a  mother’s 
home,  and  suggests  to  you  the  possibility  of  spirit¬ 
ual  surroundings.  It  was  not  builded  in  a  day, 


SPHERES  IN  THE  AFTER-LIFE  157 


but  is  the  result  of  labour  in  the  earth  and  in 
spheres  of  progression,  where  the  surroundings  are 
in  harmony  with  spiritual  development;  the  home 
of  a  good  woman,  builded  by  helping  others.” 

I  said  to  one  of  my  friends  in  the  after-life,  at 
another  time:  “Tell  me  of  the  homes  of  spirit 
people,”  and,  in  reply,  he  said: 

“That  is  a  most  difficult  thing  to  do,  because 
earth  people  expect  to  find  everything  so  different, 
while,  in  reality,  the  homes  here  are  practically  the 
same  as  in  earth-life,  except  that  there  is  in  the 
advanced  spheres  no  discord,  no  lack  of  harmony, 
nothing  but  light,  beauty,  music,  laughter,  blended 
with  earnest,  thoughtful  study.  I  am  describing 
the  home  of  a  spirit  who  has  grown  to  know  the 
life-principle.  There  are  many  poor,  struggling 
souls  wilfully,  or  ignorantly,  looking  down  instead 
of  upwards  into  the  great  possibility  of  the  future, 
who  are  living  in  squalid  huts  which  their  deeds 
und  thoughts  in  earth-life  have  made  for  them. 
Very  few  have  beautiful  homes  ready  for  them 
when  they  enter  spirit-life,  for  most  people  live  in 
such  ignorance  of  natural  laws  that  they  find  in¬ 
sufficient  shelter  awaiting  them,  but  the  wise  ones 
start  to  build  by  perfecting  their  way  of  thinking 
and  by  undoing  wrongs  on  earth,  and  also,  by  help¬ 
ing  others.  No  actual  physical  touch  is  given 


158  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


these  homes,  but,  as  the  soul  grows  in  beauty  of 
thought  and  deed,  the  home  grows  to  perfection.” 

“Are  these  homes  as  real  to  you  as  ours  are  to 
us?”  I  asked. 

“They  are  the  abiding  places  of  spirits  who 
gather  into  them  the  objects  of  beauty  they  love, 
and  there  harmonious  spirits  come  and  go,  as  in 
earth-life.  They  are  as  real  to  them  as  yours  are 
to  you.  But  we  look  at  things  differently;  we 
think  them,  and  the  thought  is  expressed  in  waves 
that  are  visible  and  real  as  long  as  we  hold  the 
thought.” 


CHAPTER  XVI 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE 

IN  my  investigation  I  was  always  anxious  to 
obtain  a  description  of  the  occupation  and 
daily  life  of  those  who  live  in  the  plane  be¬ 
yond,  and  asked  many  practical  questions. 

“What  is  this  death  change  that  seems  so  hor¬ 
rible  to  the  average  mind?”  I  inquired. 

“Death  change,”  one  answered,  “is  simply  the 
liberation  of  the  spirit  form  from  the  physical 
body,  composing  the  outer  flesh  garment,  perfectly 
natural  and  painless.  Every  change  in  Nature  is 
beautiful,  and  dissolution  is  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  One  simply  ceases  to  be  an  inhabitant  of 
your  world,  and  in  an  instant  one  becomes  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  the  world  in  which  we  now  live.  The 
second  world  or  plane  is  just  as  natural  to  us 
as  the  first,  but,  of  course,  we  live  under  different 
conditions.  We  pass  our  daily  life  as  before. 
Our  spirit  is  just  as  perfect  a  human  form  as  it 
ever  was.  For  your  clear  understanding  of  the 

modus  operandi  of  the  death  change  to  this  plane 

159 


160  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


we  may  say  one  parts  with  the  physical  body  only. 
We  lose  none  of  our  intelligence;  neither  is  any¬ 
thing  added  to  our  understanding.” 

“What  of  your  daily  life?”  I  asked. 

“Our  days  are  very  busy,”  he  said.  “There  is 
no  stagnation,  but  on  the  contrary  intense  activity 
among  every  one,  that  is,  when  we  have  emerged 
from  the  earth  conditions.  There  are  countless 
millions  of  children  unborn  physically  who  are 
plunged  into  this  world  of  ours,  and  there  are  mil¬ 
lions  of  women  here  who  have  never  known 
motherhood  in  earth  life,  who  take  and  care  for 
them,  watch  and  aid  their  growth,  mentally  and 
physically,  and  in  that  manner  satisfy  the  craving 
of  motherhood. 

“The  insane  pass  from  the  earth-life  insane 
still,  and  countless  numbers  of  our  people  are  re¬ 
quired  to  care  for  them  and  give  them  proper 
treatment  so  that  their  mentality  may  be  restored 
to  the  normal.  Murderers  at  war  with  humanity, 
hanged  or  electrocuted  on  the  earth-plane,  are  lib¬ 
erated  in  this  community,  and  we  are  obliged  to  do 
what  the  world  of  men  failed  to  do — control  and 
educate  them.  Then,  again,  we  have  the  ignorant 
and  vicious.  The  atom  of  Good  that  has  found 
expression  in  them  must  be  developed  and  directed. 
Few  people  come  into  this  life  with  any  conception 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE 


161 


of  what  or  where  it  is,  or  of  the  controlling  laws. 
The  ignorance  of  the  masses  is  pitiful.  They  enter 
our  portals  as  helpless  as  the  babe  enters  yours. 
So  you  see  dissolution  making  no  mental  change, 
and  life  being  material  and  continuous,  there  is 
just  as  great  need  for  schools,  colleges,  and  uni¬ 
versities  as  exists  with  you.  In  fact,  it  may  be 
said  that  everything  you  have  in  your  earth  life  is 
but  a  poor  imitation  of  what  exists  here  and  is 
largely  the  result  of  spirit  influence  and  power.” 

“What  of  your  homes?”  I  asked. 

“We  have  houses  in  which  the  family  relation 
is  continued,  where  every  member-spirit  is  seeking 
enlightenment.  The  law  of  attraction  is  the  domi¬ 
nant  force  here.  We  have  a  great  number  of 
thoughtful  men  seeking  to  discover  and  develop  the 
hidden  forces  of  Nature;  we  have  great  lecture 
halls  where  those  who  are  learned  discourse  upon 
the  hidden  forces;  we  have  teachers  who  develop 
the  spirituality,  and  discourse  upon  that  great  force 
called  Good  and  its  function  in  the  universe.  It  is 
a  busy  world  where  every  one  is  doing  his  or  her 
part.  We  do  not  have  any  strife  for  money  or 
need  for  money;  so  you  see  the  occupation  of  the 
great  majority  of  your  people  is  gone.  It  is  only 
by  helping  others  in  this  life — and  this  is  equally 
true  of  the  earth-life — that  one  betters  his  con* 


162  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ditions  and  enriches  himself.  This  is  the  law. 
The  only  happiness  that  the  inhabitants  of  earth 
really  get  is  through  being  charitable,  doing  good, 
and  making  the  world  happier.  The  only  wealth 
that  any  man  carries  beyond  the  grave  is  what  he 
gives  away  before  he  reaches  the  grave.” 

“Tell  us  something  of  your  foods.  Do  you  re¬ 
quire  nourishment?”  I  asked. 

“Yes,”  he  answered,  “but  not  in  the  manner  or 
in  the  way  that  you  do.  Our  digestive  organs  con¬ 
tinue  their  functions,  and  we  require  food,  but  we 
take  the  essence  while  you  take  the  substance. 
You  take  food  day  by  day  in  earth  life.  The  sub¬ 
stance  is  absorbed  in  the  physical  garment,  but  it  is 
the  essence  of  the  food  that  nourishes  the  spirit 
body  from  day  to  day.  The  substance  is  no  longer 
necessary,  but  the  essence  is  necessary  just  as  it 
was  before.  So  you  see  there  is  very  little  change 
in  physical  necessities.” 

‘Tell  me  of  your  political  economy,”  I  asked. 

“There  is,”  Dr.  Hossock  answered,  “no  aristoc¬ 
racy  in  this  land  of  ours,  but  mind  and  merit.  The 
law  of  Nature  which  is  the  Supreme  Force,  called 
Universal  Law,  has  to  be  obeyed,  in  order  that  each 
sphere  may  be  reached.  Every  individual  re¬ 
mains  upon  the  plane  for  which  he  is  fitted,  until 
he  subjects  his  will  to  the  Universal  Law.  As  he 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE 


163 


progresses,  he  learns  new  laws,  but  they  are  funda¬ 
mentally  the  same,  only  they  grow  more  intense 
and  vital,  until  he  becomes  a  part  of  that  law  him¬ 
self. 

“The  political  economy  of  the  spheres  has  refer¬ 
ence  only  to  wealth,  which  being  unbounded  and 
free  as  air  and  light,  can,  of  course,  be  appropri¬ 
ated  by  each  and  every  member  of  society,  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  or  her  capacity  of  reception,  the  supply 
being  equal  to  the  demand.  Hence  it  will  be  seen 
that  we  have  no  occasion  for  gold  and  silver  which 
perish  with  the  using;  but  the  currency  of  moral 
and  intellectual  worth,  coined  in  the  mint  of  divine 
Love,  and  assayed  by  the  standards  of  purity  and 
truth,  is  ncessary  for  each  one.” 

“Tell  me  something  of  your  social  life,”  I  said. 

“With  regard  to  the  social  constitution  of  the 
spheres,”  he  answered,  “each  is  divided  into  six 
circles  or  societies  in  which  congenial  people  live 
together  agreeably  according  to  the  law  of  attrac¬ 
tion.  Although  the  individuals  composing  such 
society  unite  as  near  as  may  be  in  thought,  agreeing 
in  the  most  important  moral  and  intellectual  fea¬ 
tures,  yet  upon  careful  analysis  we  find  that  the 
varieties  of  character  in  each  society  are  almost 
without  number.  They  are  perfectly  analogous  to 
the  numerous  members  of  the  different  societies  on 


164  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  earth-plane.  Each  group  has  teachers  more 
advanced  than  the  members  of  the  group,  and 
teachers  often  come  from  higher  spheres.  They 
impart  to  us  the  knowledge  that  they  have  acquired 
in  their  progression  in  the  different  departments  of 
science,  which  we,  in  turn,  transmit  to  those  below 
us,  just  in  the  same  manner  as  we  are  transmit¬ 
ting  knowledge  to  you  now.  Thus,  by  receiving 
and  teaching,  our  intellectual  faculties  are  ex¬ 
panded  to  higher  conceptions  and  more  exalted 
views  of  Nature’s  laws.  Our  scientific  researches 
are  extended  to  all  that  pertains  to  Nature,  to  the 
wonders  of  the  heavens  and  of  earth  and  to  what¬ 
ever  the  mentality  is  capable  of  conceiving  and 
comprehending.  In  this  manner  we  get  our  pro¬ 
gression  and  enjoyment.  The  sciences  of  astron¬ 
omy  and  mathematics  engage  our  attention. 
These  subjects  are  inexhaustible.  Chemistry  is 
the  most  interesting  of  any  of  our  studies,  as  it 
would  be  to  you  if  you  only  appreciated  the  fact 
that  all  change  in  Nature  is  the  result  of  chemical 
action.” 

“You  do  not  mean  to  say  that  all  of  your  in¬ 
habitants  are  sufficiently  advanced  to  do  that 
work?” 

“No,”  he  answered,  “there  are  millions  of  in¬ 
habitants  of  this  life  who  are  not  sufficiently  ad- 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE 


165 


vanced  to  take  any  interest  in  such  studies.  As  we 
have  passed  beyond  the  rudimentary  sphere,  our 
intellectual  energy  is  increased,  our  perception 
improved,  and  we  can  by  intuition,  as  it  were, 
more  correctly  and  rapidly  conceive  and  under¬ 
stand  those  principles  and  truths  which  are  the 
basis  of  all  scientific  work. 

“In  addition  to  our  research  we  have  our  diver¬ 
sion  from  which  we  obtain  great  pleasure.  We 
come  together  in  social  intercourse,  just  as  you  do. 
Families  meet  and  have  reunions,  just  as  you  do. 
Not  one  particle  of  love  is  lost,  but  rather  it  is  in¬ 
tensified.  Everything  is  intensified  to  a  degree 
that  you  cannot  imagine.  Your  pleasure  and 
amusements  can  in  no  way  compare  to  those  which 
we  are  privileged  to  enjoy.” 

“What  of  the  religious  movement  among  your 
people?”  I  asked. 

“In  the  lowest  of  the  spheres,  that  is,  in  the 
earth-bound  spheres  sectarian  strife  and  religious 
movement  are  just  as  strenuous  among  the  people 
as  they  were  before  these  persons  left  the  physical 
body.  That  state  of  transition  is  but  little  re¬ 
moved  from  the  physical,  for,  while  the  majority 
there  know  they  have  left  the  body,  others  have 
such  an  imperfect  appreciation  of  the  change,  or 
have  led  such  immoral  lives  that  they  are  not  con- 


166  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


scious  of  the  fact.  Here  the  dogmas  of  orthodoxy- 
are  dominant,  and  the  old  religious  teachings  are 
promulgated,  and  the  priesthood  still  holds  power. 
One  would  think  that  an  individual  having  passed 
through  the  portal  called  death  and  finding  nothing 
as  he  had  been  taught,  or  as  he  had  believed,  would 
give  up  the  old  notions  and  try  to  comprehend  the 
economy  of  the  natural  law  under  which  he  con¬ 
tinued  to  live;  but,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
many  even  then  cling  to  the  old  beliefs  as  if  in 
fear,  as  if  to  doubt  were  sacrilege,  and  in  many 
ways  excuse  their  failure  to  find  what  they  ex¬ 
pected.  They  go  into  your  churches  and  mingle 
with  other  people,  a  great  invisible  host,  hear  the 
same  old  teachings,  say  the  same  creeds  and  con¬ 
tinue  in  the  same  mental  attitude  until  some  condi¬ 
tion  is  brought  about  them  that  guides  them  into 
the  avenue  of  knowledge,  and  as  time  goes  on,  one 
by  one  they  break  the  shackles  about  their  men¬ 
talities,  and  by  progression,  through  individual  ef¬ 
fort,  become  inhabitants  of  the  first  spirit  sphere. 

“Everyday  matters  are  no  different  in  our  sphere 
than  in  your  sphere.  You  do  not  progress  and  ob¬ 
tain  knowledge  and  advancement  until  you  break 
away  from  the  old  beliefs  and  creeds.  Neither 
do  those  out  of  the  body  in  that  earth-bound  condi¬ 
tion.  You  see  there  is  but  one  law  for  you  and 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE  167 

one  law  for  us.  All  of  nature’s  laws  are  uni¬ 
versal. 

“Our  laws  are  meted  out  on  a  scale  of  exact 
justice.  All  Nature’s  laws  are  exact  laws,  and 
from  their  award  there  is  no  appeal.  Punish¬ 
ments  are  but  the  natural  consequences  of  violated 
laws,  and  are  invariably  commensurate  with  the 
offence,  and  have  reference  to  the  reformation  of 
the  offender  as  well  as  to  the  prevention  of  future 
crimes.” 

“What  are  the  best  results  that  will  come  to 
mankind  through  communication  with  your  peo¬ 
ple?”  I  asked  an  inhabitant  of  the  after-life.  He 
answered : 

“I  will  briefly  call  your  attention  to  a  few  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  beneficial  results  which  will 
flow  from  spiritual  intercommunion.  It  will  settle 
the  important  question,  ‘If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live 
again?’  It  will  reduce  the  doctrine  of  the  im¬ 
mortality  of  the  human  spirit  to  certainty,  so  that 
the  world’s  knowledge  of  the  fact  will  not  be  the 
result  of  a  blind  faith,  but  a  positive  philosophy. 
It  will  show  the  relation  existing  between  mind  and 
matter;  it  will  make  men  thinking  and  rational  be¬ 
ings.  It  will  establish  a  holy  and  most  delightful 
intercourse  between  the  inhabitants  of  the  ter¬ 
restrial  world  and  the  departed  spirit  friends.  It 


168  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


will  expand  and  liberalize  the  mind  far  beyond 
your  present  conceptions.  It  will  fraternize  and 
unite  all  the  members  of  the  human  family  in  an 
everlasting  bond  of  spiritual  union  and  harmonious 
brotherhood.  It  will  establish  the  principle  of 
Love  to  God.  and  your  fellows.  It  will  do  away 
with  sectarian  bigotry.  It  will  show  that  many  of 
the  so-called  religious  teachings  are  but  imposi¬ 
tions  on  the  credulity  of  mankind.” 

“I  am  always  anxious  for  a  further  description 
of  yourselves,  your  pleasures,  your  intercourse 
with  each  other,  and  it  is  difficult  for  us  who  have 
only  had  experience  with  matter  in  its  physical 
state  in  any  way  to  comprehend  life  in  another 
state,”  I  said. 

“We  derive  much  pleasure,”  was  the  reply, 
“from  the  exercise  of  our  talents  in  vocal  and  in¬ 
strumental  music,  which  far  excels  the  noblest  ef¬ 
forts  of  musical  genius  on  earth.  When  we  con¬ 
vene  to  worship  God  in  our  temples,  whose  halls 
and  columns  beam  with  inherent  light,  our  voices 
are  blended  together  in  songs  of  praise  and  adora¬ 
tion  to  the  Almighty  author  of  our  existence. 

“We  are  moral,  intellectual,  and  sensitive  crea¬ 
tures.  Instead  of  being,  as  many  of  you  imagine, 
mere  shadowy  and  unsubstantial  entities,  we  are 
possessed  of  definite,  tangible,  and  exquisitely 


THEIR  DAILY  LIFE 


169 


symmetrical  forms,  with  well  rounded  and  grace¬ 
ful  limbs,  and  yet  so  light  and  elastic  that  we  can 
glide  through  the  atmosphere  with  almost  electrical 
speed.  The  forked  lightnings  may  flash,  and  the 
thunders  roll  in  awful  reverberation  along  the  vault 
of  heaven,  and  the  rain  descend  in  gushing  torrents, 
hut  we  can  stand  unharmed  by  your  side. 

“We  are,  moreover,  endowed  with  all  the  beauty, 
loveliness,  and  vivacity  of  youth,  and  are  clothed 
in  flowing  vestments  of  effulgent  nature  suited  to 
the  peculiar  degree  of  refinement  of  our  bodies. 
Our  raiment  being  composed  of  phosphorescent 
principles,  we  have  the  power  of  attracting  and 
absorbing  or  reflecting  the  rays  evolved,  according 
as  our  condition  is  more  or  less  developed.  This 
accounts  for  our  being  seen  by  clairvoyants  in  dif¬ 
ferent  degrees  of  brightness,  from  a  dusky  hue  to 
an  intensity  brilliant  light.” 


CHAPTER  XVII 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW 

4  4  A  RE  you  ever  told  by  those  in  the  after- 
/jk  life  anything  you  did  not  previously 

A  J1L  know?”  I  am  often  asked. 

Yes,  but  future  events  have  never  been  fore¬ 
told,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  future  is  no 
more  known  to  them  than  to  us.  I  have  been  told 
many  things  I  did  not  know,  and  some  beyond  my 
comprehension  now. 

One  speaking  of  the  human  heart  said,  “it  is  the 
chief  organ  of  the  body.  It  pumps  blood  every 
second  to  the  extremities,  to  the  feet  as  well  as  to 
the  brain.  Every  thought  breaks  down  tissues, 
every  movement  produces  waste.  Let  it  stop  for 
one  moment,  and  dissolution  takes  place.  It  is 
sending  life  to  every  part  of  the  body.” 

“We  all  know,”  I  replied,  “that  it  takes  energy 
to  keep  anything  in  motion,  and  whenever  there 
is  motion  there  is  waste.  What  then  supplies 
energy  that  keeps  the  heart  in  motion?” 

Michael  Faraday  coming  in  said: 

170 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW 


171 


“You  have  been  told  that  by  the  process  of  de¬ 
composition  of  water  you  obtain  electricity.  This 
proposition  you  can  demonstrate  to  be  a  fact. 
Now  oxygen  is  one  form  of  electricity ;  hydrogen  is 
another  form  of  electricity  called  negative  elec¬ 
tricity;  magnetism  is  in  fact  negative  electricity. 

The  tremendous  power  in  Nature’s  compounds 
called  chemical  affinity  is  due  to  the  union  or  at¬ 
tempt  at  union  of  positive  and  negative  electricity 
concentrated  in  the  atoms  composing  the  different 
so-called  elements  of  the  compound.  Chemical  af¬ 
finity  is  the  affinity  of  electricity  and  magnetism 
for  each  other.  Electricity  and  magnetism  are 
both  matter  in  its  simplest  yet  highest  or  greatest 
degree  of  atomic  activity.  But  beyond  the  electro¬ 
magnetic  is  yet  a  greater  degree  of  eliminated  re¬ 
fined  atomic  activity  which  is  the  realm  of  spirit. 

Electro-magnetism  in  true  equilibrium  is  etheric, 
the  dwelling  place  of  spirit  and  the  connecting  link 
between  spirit  and  the  material  compounds  in  vari¬ 
ous  states  of  atomic  activity.  Electricity  and  mag¬ 
netism  are  the  male  and  the  female  elements  in  the 
universe.  From  the  oxygen  of  the  air  by  pulmonic 
process  the  blood  gets  electricity.  From  the  hy¬ 
drogen  of  the  water  by  the  digestive  process  the 
blood  gets  magnetism.  The  oxygen  of  the  water 
is  absorbed  by  the  iron  of  the  blood.  By  the  nitro- 


172  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


gen  of  the  air  partly  mixed  with  the  blood  at  the 
lungs,  and  partly  by  the  nitrogen  of  the  food  taken 
into  the  stomach,  the  flesh  compound  is  formed. 

Hydrogen  and  carbon  form  fatty  compounds. 
One  set  of  blood  discs  are  electric,  the  other,  mag¬ 
netic.  The  electric  discs  have  an  affinity  for  the 
magnetic  discs  when  out  of  equilibrium.  But  at 
the  lungs  they  are  in  equilibrium  and  hence  repel 
each  other  to  the  left  auricle,  then  into  the  left 
ventricle,  the  valves  preventing  back-flow;  this  re¬ 
pulsion  of  the  discs  to  each  other  must  carry  the 
whole  crimson  mass  forward  while  the  equilibrium 
is  maintained  to  the  capillaries. 

The  electro-magnetic  equilibrium  of  the  two 
sets  of  discs  is  lost  in  the  capillaries  and  becomes 
less  and  less  to  the  right  auricle.  Of  these  discs 
the  set  nearer  the  heart  because  of  the  inequili¬ 
brium,  attracts  the  ones  next  behind,  all  the  way 
from  the  capillaries  to  the  right  auricle  where,  by 
electric  action  from  the  brain  in  moving  the  heart 
to  contraction,  the  equilibrium  is  again  partially 
established. 

Now  the  two  sets  of  discs  repel  each  other  to  the 
lungs  and  through  the  pulmonary  capillaries  where 
the  equilibrium  is  more  perfected  so  that  the  re¬ 
pulsion  of  the  discs  carries  the  blood  into  the  left 
auricle;  thence  by  muscular  action  into  the  left 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW 


173 


ventricle  and  by  further  muscular  action  into  the 
aorta.  The  heart  being  in  equilibrium  to  arterial 
blood  and  positive  to  venous,  attracts.” 

The  scientists  have  not  yet  discovered  that  elec¬ 
tricity  and  magnetism  are  the  male  and  female  ele¬ 
ments  in  the  Universe. 

Knowing  as  I  do  that  everything  in  the  Universe 
is  composed  of  matter  varying  in  vibration  only, 
and  that  the  spirit-body  is  composed  of  ether, 
electric,  and  magnetic  in  its  composition,  one  even¬ 
ing  I  inquired  of  one  in  the  plane  beyond  the 
physical,  one  versed  in  the  action  of  electricity, 
how  it  was  that  electricity  could  by  its  action  de¬ 
stroy  life,  and  I  recall  very  distinctly  his  answer. 

“You  are  aware,”  he  said,  “of  the  voltage  used 
in  the  various  prisons  when  they  put  a  criminal 
to  death.  You  are  also  aware  that  frequently  a 
current  with  many  times  the  voltage  used  in  electro¬ 
cution  passes  through  a  body  without  serious  in¬ 
jury.  It  may  startle  you  to  know  that  any  person 
who  has  been  electrocuted,  or  who  has  suffered  a 
lightning  shock,  or  who  by  accident  has  received 
a  charge  of  electricity  that  has  apparently  produced 
death,  could  be  restored  to  life  by  proper  treat¬ 
ment.  The  charge  of  electricity,  as  applied  in 
our  prisons,  paralyzes  the  heart  action,  all  the 
bodily  functions,  and  the  person  is  apparently 


174  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


dead.  But  you  have  probably  observed  that  when¬ 
ever  and  wherever  a  person  is  put  to  death  un¬ 
der  sentence  of  the  law,  a  post-mortem  follows. 
Death  was  and  is  produced  by  the  post-mortem  and 
not  by  the  electric  shock.  In  the  beginning  sur¬ 
geons  were  anxious  to  note  the  effect  of  the  force, 
and  undoubtedly  made  very  careful  post-mortems. 
You  would  be  astounded  to  know  as  we  know,  that 
post-mortems  have  lost  interest  and  that  frequently 
they  now  consist  of  jabbing  a  knife  into  the  ap¬ 
parently  dead  body  and  passing  it  on  for  burial. 

When  a  person  receives  an  excessive  charge  of 
electricity,  either  by  accident  or  design,  and  the 
bodily  functions  are  thereby  temporarily  para¬ 
lyzed,  if  the  body  were  immediately  stripped,  laid 
upon  the  fresh  earth  and  sprayed  with  water,  the 
electricity  would  be  drawn  therefrom,  and  would 
pass  into  the  earth.  If  then  artificial  movement 
of  the  arms  and  stimulants  were  resorted  to,  the 
heart  action  would  be  resumed,  and  one  apparently 
dead  would  get  up  and  walk  away.  Persons  die 
from  electric  shock  because  they  are  not  properly 
treated.  When  the  bodily  functions  are  paralyzed 
and  the  electricity  is  not  immediately  drawn  from 
the  body  and  the  action  of  the  heart  is  not  started 
by  artificial  means,  death  will,  of  course,  ensue 
in  a  short  time.  If  the  treatment  described  is  ad- 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW 


175 


ministered  in  time,  there  is  no  occasion  for  dissolu¬ 
tion  from  electric  shock.  Electricity  is  life,  and 
life  will  not  destroy  life.  In  this  day,  where  elec¬ 
tricity  is  in  such  common  use,  countless  lives  could 
be  saved  if  the  facts  that  I  am  now  giving  you 
were  known  and  the  treatment  applied.” 

I  received  this  information  some  years  ago  and 
thereafter  arranged  with  one  of  the  wardens  of  a 
prison  in  New  Jersey  to  undertake  to  resuscitate  a 
convict  who  was  to  be  electrocuted,  but  the  plan 
came  to  the  attention  of  the  authorities  and  was  for¬ 
bidden  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  interfering  with 
the  due  execution  of  the  law. 

Society  must  of  course  have  protection  from  the 
acts  of  the  vicious,  and  laws  are  properly  made  to 
imprison  those  who  cannot  be  controlled,  but  the 
representatives  of  the  people  assembled  in  the  vari¬ 
ous  legislatures  have  not  the  right  to  prescribe  the 
penalty  of  death.  There  is  a  limit  to  their  sover¬ 
eignty.  What  right  have  we  as  a  people  to  electro¬ 
cute  one  who  has  committed  murder?  The  life  of 
every  individual  comes  from  God  and  though  it 
may  have  strayed  far  from  the  path  of  rectitude, 
yet  the  people  have  no  more  right  to  take  that  life 
than  the  murderer  has  to  take  the  life  of  the  mur¬ 
dered.  What  right  have  we  as  a  people  to  electro¬ 
cute  a  depraved  criminal  and  by  so  doing  liberate 


176  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


him  in  another  sphere  where  he  may  continue 
wrong-doing?  If  the  public  understood  what  dis¬ 
solution  leads  to,  they  would  stand  aghast  and 
horrified  at  the  mere  suggestion  of  electrocu¬ 
tion. 

Again  I  am  asked,  “Do  you  get  teachings  from 
the  invisible  world  that  are  worth  while?”  Let 
me  answer  by  giving  just  a  few  among  thousands 
received: 

“Immortality  is  the  first  promise  of  which  man 
is  conscious;  but,  as  he  acquires  that  which  he  con¬ 
siders  worldly  knowledge,  he  tries  to  rid  himself 
of  this  promise.  It  stays  with  him,  however,  and, 
no  matter  how  often  he  may  deny  the  fact,  his 
everyday  life  keeps  before  him  the  claims  of  im¬ 
mortality.  The  fields,  the  fireside,  the  love,  and 
companionship  of  his  fellow  beings  all  suggest  Im¬ 
mortality.  The  very  thought  that  death  ends  all, 
causes  him  to  shudder.  Life  would,  indeed,  be  a 
hollow  mockery  if  the  earth-life,  with  its  joys  and 
sorrows,  its  lights  and  shadows,  were  the  end. 
Every  heart-throb  is  a  protest  against  such  thought. 
Nature  not  only  promises  eternal  life,  but  fulfils 
that  promise,  else  we  would  not  be  here  to-night 
encouraging  you  to  better  efforts.” 

“Ages  were  required  to  develop  men  so  they 
could  discuss  rather  than  fight  over  the  mat- 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW  177 

ters  concerning  which  they  differ,  and  adjust  them 
in  the  forum  instead  of  on  the  battlefield.” 

“If  you  live  a  good  life,  the  day  of  your  death 
will  be  a  great  day;  for,  it  will  be  a  day  of  liberty; 
but,  if  you  do  not  live  as  you  should,  the  day  of 
death  will  find  you  in  bondage,  bound  by  fetters 
of  your  own  making.  The  manacles  of  earth  are 
not  nearly  so  binding  as  these  will  be.  Follow 
where  the  light  of  spiritual  guidance  beckons,  and 
do  the  things  you  find  to  do,  upon  the  way.  Many 
tasks  will  be  disagreeable  and  not  to  your  liking, 
but  they  will  be  the  very  tasks  you  will  need  to 
perform.” 

“I  feel  that  it  is  my  duty  to  help  those  who  try 
to  help  themselves.  There  are  many  on  the  spirit 
side  of  life  who  are  so  densely  ignorant  that  they 
have  no  ambition  to  become  better.  They  con¬ 
tinue  on  in  the  same  old  rut  in  which  they  were 
when  on  earth.  Such  spirits  are  of  no  benefit  to 
the  people  on  earth  as  they  cannot  bring  useful 
knowledge  to  them.  If  you  were  able  to  see  and 
know  the  conditions  of  the  spirits  in  the  lower 
spheres  and  could  contrast  their  condition  with 
that  of  spirits  in  the  higher  spheres,  you  would  un¬ 
derstand  how  important  it  is  that  people  should 
be  enlightened  upon  this  subject  while  they  are 
still  upon  earth.” 


178  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“Friends,  there  is  one  God,  the  God  of  Nature; 
or  rather,  the  God  Nature.  This  God  permeates 
everything  and  has  absolute  dominion  over  all 
that  exists.  You  are  all  children  of  this  one  God 
under  whose  dominion  you  are  here;  and  you  are 
here,  because  you  could  not  help  yourselves.  You 
had  no  say  as  to  that  part  of  your  destiny;  and  you 
will  leave  the  earth -life  under  the  same  dominion 
— Nature — and  you  cannot  change  the  destiny  Na¬ 
ture  has  marked  out  for  you.  Nature’s  mode  of 
reform  is  development.” 

“What  is  the  use  of  pictures  to  a  person  who 
cannot  see,  or  of  descriptions  to  those  who  cannot 
understand?  The  description  of  the  higher  spirit¬ 
ual  spheres,  even  if  it  were  given  by  one  of  the 
highest  spirits,  would  be  unintelligible  to  mortal 
mind.” 

“It  affords  me  pleasure  and  joy  unspeakable  to 
know  that  I  am  still  a  man  and  can  disclose  in  my 
weak  way  to  some  on  earth  the  great  fact  that  life 
continues,  and  that  mere  theories  cannot  stand  out 
successfully  against  eternal  fact.  I  was  ignorant 
and  weak  when  I  came  into  this  unknown  country, 
and  was  not  prepared  to  advance,  until  I  had 
learned  here  what  I  should  have  known  before.” 

“What  you  have  gained,  what  you  need  will  be 
yours  in  the  spirit  spheres.  There  is  the  closest 


FACTS  WELL  TO  KNOW 


179 


love  and  quickest  sympathy  between  the  earth- 
plane  and  the  spirit  world,  hut  we  cannot  make  you 
understand  what  our  lives  really  are,  without  be¬ 
coming  exact  counterparts  of  each  other.  You  will 
each  find  a  different  home,  suited  to  you  and  your 
work.  Your  sphere  now  lies  upon  the  earth-plane, 
and  it  is  for  you  to  perform  the  duties  allotted  to 
you.  You  may  not  he  able  to  give  the  ignorant 
learning  or  the  hungry  food,  but  you  can  inspire 
their  spirits  to  nobler  and  better  deeds,  while  some 
one  else,  who  is  able,  provides  food  and  shelter. 
Let  them  feel  that  they  have  your  love  and  sym¬ 
pathy  and  let  them  see  that,  even  if  the  clouds  of 
adversity  hang  low,  your  soul  is  able  to  ascend  to 
higher  spheres.  It  is  good  to  know  that  you  do 
not  travel  the  stony  path  of  life  alone;  to  feel  that, 
no  matter  how  rough  or  dark  the  way  may  grow, 
you  can,  if  you  will,  stretch  forth  your  hand  and 
feel  an  answering  clasp — a  clasp  that  makes  your 
heart  grow  braver.  The  Creator  seems  so  far  away 
to  most  that,  unless  they  can  have  the  love  and 
help  of  each  other,  they  feel  deserted.  It  will  al¬ 
ways  be  impossible  for  the  finite  to  grasp  the  in¬ 
finite.  There  are  thousands  who  walk  secure  in 
the  consciousness  of  ‘leaning  on  the  strong  arm  of 
the  Lord’  when,  in  reality,  they  are  cheered  and 
guided  by  some  unseen  friend.  It  is  this  spirit 


180  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


that  gives  to  them  the  feeling  of  sympathy  and 
strength  that  so  ably  assists  them  through  life. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  spirit  world  are  not  bound 
by  dogmas  or  creeds, — that  is,  those  who  have 
been  there  long  enough  to  get  rid  of  their  earth 
ideas;  and  they  go  forth  to  do  good  wherever  they 
find  opportunity.  The  main  thing  is  to  be  honest 
with  yourself,  and  just  to  others.  Your  ideas  of 
good  to-day  may  not  be  the  same  to-morrow. 
Therefore,  do  not  attempt  to  lay  down  a  rule  for 
your  friends  to  follow.  Let  each  be  a  law  unto 
himself;  for  each  must  answer  for  his  own  actions 
and  not  for  the  actions  of  others.” 

“It  is  not  what  a  man  does  that  makes  him  great, 
but  what  he  is.  Action  is  merely  thought  dressed 
in  visible  garb.  Being  must  ever  precede  doing.” 

In  this  manner  I  answer  the  two  questions  so 
often  propounded. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP 

4  4  "I  \  Y  what  right  do  you  presume  to  compel 
1— C  my  presence  in  this  house?”  The 
*  *  room  was  in  absolute  darkness;  the 
voice  of  one  called  by  the  world,  “dead,”  trem¬ 
bling  with  anger  broke  upon  the  stillness  of  the 
night. 

“Do  you  understand  the  situation  in  which  you 
find  yourself?”  I  asked. 

“I  do  not,  and  will  not  allow  any  man  to  dic¬ 
tate  to  me,”  he  replied. 

“You  are  not  afraid?”  I  said. 

“Afraid!  I  am  not  afraid  of  God  or  man,  and 
I  will  not  remain  here.” 

“It  might  be  to  your  advantage  if  you  would,” 
I  answered.  “I  did  Dot  force  you  to  come.  You 
are  as  much  a  stranger  to  me  as  I  am  to  you.” 

“Who  did  force  me  to  come?”  he  asked. 

“I  do  not  know;  tell  me  about  it.” 

“As  it  comes  to  me  now,”  he  answered,  “an  irre¬ 
sistible  force  seemed  to  urge  me  from  a  dream- like 

181 


182  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


condition.  Suddenly  I  was  awake,  in  your  pres* 
ence,  and  immediately  concluded  that  in  some  man¬ 
ner  you  controlled  my  conduct.  That  I  cannot 
permit.” 

“You  are  mistaken  there,  but  does  it  not  occur 
to  you  that  some  great  good  may  come  of  this 
meeting?”  I  inquired. 

“I  cannot  in  any  way  understand  your  sug¬ 
gestion,”  the  stranger  said,  “or  see  how  any  good 
can  come  of  an  enforced  conference.  If  you  did 
not  bring  me,  who  did?  I  had  no  desire  to  come, 
nor  do  I  wish  to  remain.  This  house  and  its  sur¬ 
roundings  are  unfamiliar  to  me.  With  your  per¬ 
mission,  I  will  retire.” 

“Before  you  go,”  I  said,  “I  should  like  to  have 
you  know  something  of  the  work  we  are  doing, 
which  may  account  for  your  coming.” 

“Well,  sir,  finding  myself  in  this  unfamiliar  sit¬ 
uation  I  will  not  be  lacking  in  courtesy,”  he  said. 

“For  many  years,”  I  replied,  “I  have  been  en¬ 
gaged  in  psychical  research,  with  this  psychic  who 
sits  opposite  me,  trying  to  obtain  a  practical  solu¬ 
tion  of  that  great  physical  change  called  death.” 

“What  has  that  to  do  with  me?  I  am  not  dead 
nor  am  I  interested  in  the  subject,”  he  answered. 

“Wait  a  moment,  please.  You  will  be  inter¬ 
ested  when  I  tell  you  that  I  have  discovered  some- 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP 


183 


thing  of  the  daily  life  and  environment  of  the  in¬ 
dividual  after  he  has  ceased  to  he  an  inhabitant 
of  the  earth -plane.” 

“You  are  entirely  mistaken  in  your  statements; 
there  is  no  survival — no  continuity  of  life.  Death 
is  the  end.” 

“Are  you  sure?” 

“Absolutely,”  he  replied. 

“Suppose,”  I  answered,  “I  could  prove  to  you 
here  and  now,  that  death,  so-called,  is  but  a  phys¬ 
ical  change,  the  separation  of  the  life-force  from 
the  flesh  garment,  that  substance  with  which  it  is 
clothed  during  its  journey  on  this  plane — suppose 
I  could  demonstrate  here  and  now  that  the  indi¬ 
vidual  has  a  spirit  body  composed  of  matter  with 
form,  features,  and  expression  during  his  entire 
earth-life,  and  at  dissolution  simply  becomes  an 
inhabitant  of  the  next  plane  of  consciousness  with 
the  same  spirit  body,  is  in  short,  the  same  identical 
man.” 

“There  is  no  such  thing  as  life  after  death,”  he 
said. 

“I  am  going  to  try  to  explain  what  life  is,  before  I 
give  you  the  absolute  proof  of  what  I  state.  Now 
follow  me.  At  the  moment  of  conception,  an  Atom 
of  the  Universal  Force  called  ‘Good’  is  clothed 
with  substance  vibrating  more  slowly  than  the  life- 


184  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


force  clothed.  The  individual  is  as  perfect  at 
that  moment  as  the  giant  oak  in  the  heart  of  the 
acorn.  We  cannot  see  the  individual  or  the  oak 
tree  before  or  after  birth  and  growth.  Life-force 
vibrates  so  fast  that  it  is  not  visible  to  the  phys¬ 
ical  eye,  hut  ultimately  we  see  the  outer  covering, 
that  substance  which  makes  both  possible.  This 
outer  garment  of  the  individual  is  composed  largely 
of  water.  The  physical  body  of  ours  changes  once 
in  seven  years  at  least,  but  with  such  change  we  re¬ 
tain  individuality,  form,  and  feature.  How  is  this 
done?”  I  asked. 

“I  don’t  know,  and  I  don’t  care,”  he  answered. 

“Follow  me  a  little  farther,  please.  This  en¬ 
tity,  this  life-force,  this  individuality,  this  soul, 
this  4us,’  if  you  like,  is  composed  of  matter,  differ¬ 
ing  only  from  the  flesh  substance  in  its  vibratory 
condition.  This  accounts  for  its  permanency  of 
form,  but  no  physical  eye  ever  saw  or  ever  will  see 
this  self,  this  spirit  form,  this  soul,  so-called,  unless 
possessed  of  the  psychic  sight  with  which,  speaking 
generally,  few  are  endowed.  Without  it  one  in¬ 
dividual  can  never  see  the  spirit  form  of  another 
while  an  inhabitant  of  this  earth.  We  are  con¬ 
scious  only  of  physical  expression,  and  sound. 
Now  in  dissolution  from  accident  or  physical  weak¬ 
ness,  the  body  covering  that  is  visible  to  us  is  no 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP 


185 


longer  fit  for  habitation;  then  the  separation,  dis¬ 
solution — death  so-called — occurs;  the  individual 
through  a  natural  process  releases  itself  from  the 
flesh  garment,  and  stands  forth  the  same  man  or 
woman  as  before,  though  invisible  to  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  earth.  They  see  but  the  old  flesh  body  that 
housed  the  spirit.  They  could  not,  as  I  have  said, 
see  the  true  self  before,  nor  can  they  see  it  after 
dissolution,  because  of  the  intensity,  because  of  the 
rapidity  of  the  vibration  of  the  etheric  body,  for 
our  eyes  are  limited  as  to  motion,  as  well  as  to 
distance.” 

“That  is  all  very  well,  but  what  has  it  to  do  with 
me?  I  am  not  dead,”  he  answered. 

“If  you  will  be  patient  I  will  lead  up  to  the 
personal  application.  When  one  has  gone  through 
this  death  change,  one  of  two  conditions  may  fol¬ 
low;  we  may  never  for  a  moment  lose  conscious¬ 
ness — it  is  then  just  good  night  to  the  old  and  good 
morning  to  the  new  environment.  This  usually 
follows  a  respectable  life.  The  man  is  the  same 
still,  nothing  subtracted  from  or  added  to  his  per¬ 
sonality,  and  in  the  mirror  of  Nature  he  sees  him¬ 
self  with  the  same  outlines,  the  same  expression, 
the  same  thoughts,  the  same  attachments,  still  a 
material  body  dissociated  from  the  flesh  covering, 
the  same  spirit  form  that  has  been  his  during  his 


186  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


journey  in  the  world.  But  he  then  appreciates 
that  his  body  is  lighter  and  more  transparent  than 
the  flesh  substance  he  has  been  accustomed  to  look 
upon,  and  he  does  not  resist  muscular  effort  as  he 
did  in  the  old  covering;  then  but  for  the  assurance 
of  friends  and  relatives  who  assist  in  the  change, 
as  at  earth-birth,  and  explain  to  the  quickening 
consciousness,  many  would  he  afraid.  There  is 
this  great  difference  in  the  two  births.  When  this 
atom  of  life-force  first  becomes  individual,  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  the  earth  plane,  it  possesses  instinct  but 
no  intelligence;  it  continues  to  develop,  with  no 
knowledge  of  its  previous  existence.  It  could  have 
none,  for  it  came  from  the  mass  of  universal  life 
forces.  The  next  great  change  is  similar  except 
that  the  individual  retains  all  previous  develop¬ 
ment;  he  knows  little  more  of  the  laws  governing, 
and  the  means  available  to  aid  his  progression  than 
an  infant. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  have  led  unclean 
earth-lives,  who  have  been  selfish,  immoral,  and 
have  committed  crimes  against  man  and  Nature, 
may  not  soon  awaken;  if  they  do,  they  find  them¬ 
selves  in  mental  darkness,  in  a  prison  of  their  own 
building,  and  there  they  remain  until  a  desire 
comes  from  within  for  better  things.  Then  the 
way  will  he  shown  by  spirit  people  engaged  in  such 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP 


187 


charitable  work.  At  the  beginning,  each  awaken¬ 
ing  spirit  is  told  that  each  wrong  act  done  in  earth- 
life  must  be  lived  over,  that  as  he  works  he  will 
encounter  like  conditions  under  which  the  wrong 
was  done,  and  in  the  new  life  he  must  correct  the 
error  in  the  old  in  order  to  advance.  I  recall  that 
an  inhabitant  of  the  next  plane  once  said: — 

“  ‘The  justice  that  meets  a  naked  soul  on  the 
threshold  of  the  after-life  is  terrible  in  its  com¬ 
pleteness.’ 

“I  cannot  accept  a  word  you  say  about  a  life 
after  death.  There  is  no  other  life — there  can  be 
none — a  man  dies  like  a  dog,”  said  the  visitor. 

“That  is  true  in  a  sense,”  I  said,  “for  the  life 
force  and  individuality  both  go  on.  You  can¬ 
not  destroy  an  atom  of  matter,  you  will  admit; 
so  if  life-force  is  matter,  that  cannot  be  destroyed.” 

“This  is  all  very  strange  talk,  but  why  speak 
on  such  a  subject  to  me?  I  am  not  dead;  if  I  were 
and  there  is  life  beyond  the  grave,  I  should  not  be 
here  talking  to  you.” 

“I  have  talked  just  as  I  am  talking  to  you  with 
many  who  have  made  that  change,”  I  said. 

“Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  you  have  talked  to 
dead  people?” 

“I  did  not  say  that;  I  said  that  I  had  talked  to 
those  who  have  made  the  change  called  death. 


188  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


There  is,  in  reality,  no  death;  there  are  no  dead.” 

“Talk  sense,”  he  retorted,  “we  have  all  seen 
dead  people,  have  seen  their  bodies  buried,  and 
you  tell  me  there  are  no  dead.” 

Again  I  said,  “You  fail  to  understand  what  I 
have  been  telling  you.  We  bury  the  physical 
bodies  but  not  the  spirit  bodies;  one  is  just  as  ma¬ 
terial  as  the  other.” 

“I  don’t  comprehend  you,  and  I  don’t  care  to 
continue  the  discussion.  I  think  I  will  say  good¬ 
night.” 

“Just  a  moment,  and  I  will  demonstrate  the  fact. 
Did  I  not  tell  you  a  moment  ago  that  I  had  talked 
with  many  so-called  dead?” 

“Yes,”  he  answered,  “but  I  did  not  take  what 
you  said  seriously;  I  made  up  my  mind  on  that 
subject  long  ago.” 

“Now  to  begin  the  proof — do  you  know  where 
you  are  at  this  moment?  Tell  me  if  you  know.” 

“I  don’t  seem  to  know.  This  is  not  my  home; 
the  room  is  strange  to  me;  you  are  strange  too. 
It  is  all  unreal.  Can  you  explain  the  situation  in 
which  I  find  myself? 

“Listen  to  me.  This  frail  little  woman,  over 
eighty  years  old,  who  sits  opposite  me,  is  the  most 
gifted  psychic  in  the  world.  More  than  twenty 
years  ago  it  was  discovered  that  under  favourable 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP  189 

psychic  conditions  such  as  prevail  to-night  we  could 
have  speech  with  spirit  people.” 

“It  can’t  be  possible,”  he  said. 

“The  suggestion,”  I  replied,  “is  so  far  beyond 
the  experience  of  man,  that  I  am  not  surprised 
at  your  inability  to  comprehend  the  fact.  Wait! 
Having  such  means  of  communication,  we  have  not 
only  learned  much  of  the  future  state,  hut,  acting 
in  conjunction  with  a  group  of  people  in  the  next 
life,  we  have  been  able  to  bring  many  to  a  state  of 
consciousness,  after  the  death  change,  in  quasi¬ 
material,  quasi-spiritual  conditions,  such  as  pre¬ 
vail  here  to-night;  and  when  we  are  doing  work  of 
this  character,  many  out  of  the  body  are  brought 
for  help  by  their  friends,  as  you  have  been,  that 
they  may  comprehend  their  situation.” 

“But  I  am  not  one  of  these;  the  suggestion  is 
absurd,  I  tell  you.  I  am  as  much  alive  as  you,  and 
my  body  is  quite  as  substantial  as  yours,”  he  said. 

“Hold  up  your  hand  as  I  do  mine,  and  see  if 
there  is  any  difference  between  the  two.” 

“Yes,”  he  answered,  “there  is  a  difference,  I 
now  discover.  Yours  is  opaque,  but  mine  is  trans¬ 
parent.  I  can  see  right  through  my  hand.  Is 
this  hypnotic  suggestion?” 

“No,”  I  said,  “you  are  facing  new  conditions 
to-night.  Do  you  know  that  we  sit  in  intense  dark- 


190  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ness — and  cannot  see  you,  although  we  hear  your 
voice  distinctly?” 

“I  know,”  he  answered,  “that  it  is  not  dark,  for 
I  can  see  you,  and  if  I  can  see  you,  you  can  see  me ; 
but  never  mind  that;  what  is  the  matter  with  my 
body?  I  think  now  I  have  been  very  ill,  and  one 
always  looks  as  I  do  after  long  sickness,”  he  re¬ 
plied. 

“Speaking  of  illness,  what  do  you  recall  about 
your  last  illness?” 

“My  memory  seems  hazy,  but  it  is  coming  back 
to  me.  I  recall  lying  on  a  bed,  the  physician  wait¬ 
ing,  my  wife  and  children  sobbing.  The  doctor 
said,  ‘he  is  passing  now.’  That  did  give  me  a 
start;  there  were  some  who  would  like  to  see  me 
dead — but  I  fooled  them— for  I  did  not  die.  If 
I  had  died,  how  could  I  be  here?” 

“What  do  you  know  about  death?”  I  said. 

“I  don’t  know  anything  about  it,  and  I  don’t 
want  to.” 

“But  when  that  time  comes  to  you,  you  will  be 
obliged  to  know,  whether  you  desire  to  or  not,”  I 
replied. 

“Well,  I  am  willing  to  wait,  and  I  don’t  want  to 
talk  about  it.  I  never  did.” 

“Suppose  I  tell  you  that  you  have  already  made 
that  change,” 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP  191 

“It  would  be  foolish  to  tell  me  such  a  thing 
when  I  am  here  talking  to  you.” 

“Suppose  I  now  prove  it  to  you.  Those  in  spirit 
life  co-operate  with  me  in  this  work  and  are  often 
able  to  bring  to  the  stranger  those  whom  he  has 
known  in  earth-life,  and  face  to  face  and  voice  to 
voice,  the  proposition  proves  itself.” 

“I  tell  you,”  he  said,  “there  are  no  dead  people, 
and  if  there  were,  I  don’t  want  to  see  them.” 

“You  are  not  afraid?” 

“No,”  he  answered,  “but  I  don’t  want  to  see 
them.  I  have  enough  trouble  with  the  living  with¬ 
out  bothering  with  the  dead.” 

“Is  there  no  one  in  the  next  life  with  whom  you 
would  like  to  talk  if  you  could?  Remember  that 
your  sickness  may  have  ended  in  dissolution;  your 
body  is  different,  and  you  know  you  find  your¬ 
self  in  a  strange  city.” 

“Things  have  changed,  but  I  don’t  want  to  see 
or  talk  to  dead  people.” 

“You  find  life  so  material,  so  like  the  earth  life, 
that  I  believe  no  method  but  actual  experience  will 
convince  you  that  you  have  left  the  mortal  state, 
and  that  lesson  must  be  learned.  You  have  been 
so  intent  on  our  conversation,  I  think  that  you  have 
not  looked  around — look,  what  do  you  see?” 

“My  God!  People,  people,  people!  All 


192  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


strangers,  and  all  looking  at  me,  all  with  bodies 
like  my  own;  what  strange  hallucination  is  this? 
Where  am  I?  What  am  I?” 

“You  are  no  longer  an  inhabitant  of  this  world 
but  are  actually  living  in  the  after-life.  Are  there 
none  you  know  among  those  you  see,  who,  to  your 
knowledge,  are  counted  among  the  dead,  so- 
called?”  I  asked. 

“Not  one,  but  wait,  there  comes — John — my  old 
partner.  Why  does  he,  of  all  men,  come?  He  is 
dead.  I  helped  bury  him.  I  was  his  executor. 
Take  him  and  that  woman  and  the  boy  away.  I 
won’t  see  them,  I  tell  you.  They  are  dead,  all 
dead.  They  are  coming  to  arrest  me.  How  can 
they,  when  they  are  all  dead?  Tell  me,  tell  me 
tell  me  quick.” 

“What  wrong  did  you  do?”  I  asked. 

“Wrong?  Who  said  I  did  them  any  wrong? 
I  was  faithful  to  the  trust.” 

In  answer  another  spirit  spoke.  “No,  you  were 
not  faithful.  You  stole  the  money  entrusted  to 
you  for  my  wife  and  child,  and  left  them  to  suf¬ 
fer.  There  never  was,  and  never  can  be  a  secret 
in  the  world.  When  you  kept  from  my  loved  ones 
that  which  I  left  for  their  support  and  let  them  die 
in  want,  I  saw,  and  all  your  friends  in  spirit  life 
saw  your  act  and  the  working  of  your  mind.” 


FROM  DEATH’S  SLEEP 


193 


“No  secret  in  the  world?  My  crime  known! 
The  dead  alive!  Have  I,  too,  left  my  physical 
body  to  find  life  when  I  thought  to  find  oblivion? 
Am  I  to  meet  all  those  I  have  wronged?  I  cannot 
face  the  future!  Darkness  is  gathering!  I  am 
falling!  God  help  me!” 

The  voice  faltered,  struggled  for  further  speech, 
and  was  lost.  The  gross  material  that  clothed  his 
organs  of  respiration,  disintegrated,  and  he  spoke 
no  more. 

We  had  participated  in  one  of  the  most  re¬ 
markable  experiences  that  it  has  been  the  privilege 
of  man  to  have.  We  had  talked  with  one  who 
had  left  the  physical  body,  and  witnessed  his 
awakening. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


THE  IMAGINATION 

ABOUT  me  is  the  Canadian  wilderness,  vast 
and  impenetrable.  I  have  come  across 
the  American  border  into  the  forest  as  I 
always  do  when  the  days  grow  long.  I  am  far 
from  the  trodden  ways  of  men  in  a  place  where 
one  can  feel  the  heart  beat  of  the  Universe.  In 
the  splendid  silence  I  am  able  to  think  deeply  and 
clearly. 

The  house  of  logs,  surrounded  by  broad  ver¬ 
andas,  is  built  upon  a  point  of  land  extending  some 
little  way  into  the  lake;  about  the  cabin,  pines 
and  silver  birch  trees  give  grateful  shade  when  the 
sun  is  high.  To  the  left  are  islands  covered  with 
hemlock  and  embracing  vines;  to  the  south  and 
across  the  neck  of  the  deep  bay  is  the  rock-bound 
shore  of  the  mainland;  and  to  the  northwest  there 
are  woods  and  ragged  rocks,  lakes  and  rivers,  and 
beyond,  prairies  just  as  Nature  left  them  before 
men  came  out  of  savagery.  The  winds,  enriched 

among  the  trees  with  those  properties  that  give 

194 


THE  IMAGINATION 


195 


health,  sweep  across  the  point  on  which  the  cabin 
stands  on  their  way  down  the  great  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Long  deep  breaths  of  such  pure 
air  fill  one’s  blood  with  oxygen,  purifying  it  till 
it  grows  red,  and  the  nerve  fluid  ceases  to  be  agi¬ 
tated. 

There  are  voices  in  these  silent  places.  One 
may  not  understand  them,  but  knowing  that  life 
whenever  found  has  intelligence,  the  fact  of  lan¬ 
guage  must  stand  admitted.  The  furtive  folk  are 
no  less  dumb  than  the  deaf-mute;  yet  who  can  say 
that  they,  denied  a  speaking  tongue,  do  not  com¬ 
municate  by  motion  with  as  much  freedom  as  our 
own  deaf-mutes?  The  ability  to  communicate 
each  with  the  other  is  not  denied  the  insect  life  or 
the  furtive  folk.  The  wild  flowers  upon  the  river 
bank,  the  reeds  in  the  marshes,  the  young  trees, 
children  of  the  parent  pine,  and  the  oak  and  maple 
rearing  their  heads  into  the  concave  sky  must  have 
language  or  means  of  communicating  with  each 
other;  otherwise  the  scheme  of  the  Universe  is  a 
failure.  Why  should  life  be  created,  allowed  to 
develop  and  progress,  and  be  denied  speech?  I 
cannot  comprehend  life  in  any  form  without  lan¬ 
guage.  With  my  conception  of  life-force  the  en¬ 
vironment  is  wonderful. 

In  the  stillness  of  the  night,  the  forest  awakes. 


196  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


The  lazy  sound  of  bees,  those  workers  of  the  day, 
is  no  longer  heard.  The  gulls  that  have  sailed 
through  the  blue  sky  from  early  mom  searching 
for  food  have  gone  hack  into  the  little  lakes,  far 
from  the  presence  of  man,  and  rest  on  the  bosom 
of  the  waters  with  their  young.  But  the  workers  of 
the  night  are  awaking;  there  is  a  splash,  a  mink 
is  swimming  around  the  point  playing;  there  is  a 
breaking  of  branches  as  the  deer  come  down  to 
drink.  I  hear  a  soft  foot  fall,  as  the  denizens  of 
the  forest  range  for  food.  Now  comes  the  night 
song  of  the  whip-poor-will,  and  I  feel  in  my  face 
the  wind  made  by  the  black  bat’s  wings.  The  frogs 
croak  and  call  to  one  another  from  pool  and  marsh 
and  from  the  river  bank,  and  then  comes  the  stir 
among  the  trees  and  growing  shmbs  and  embracing 
vines. 

No,  I  don’t  understand  their  speech,  nor  could  I 
understand  the  speech  of  the  ancient  Chaldeans, 
but  if  they  talked  in  my  presence  I  should  know 
it.  I  know  that  as  the  winds  sough  through  trees 
and  vines,  swaying  the  branches  and  needles  of 
the  majestic  pines,  the  sounds  produced  are  as 
varying  as  the  speech  of  man. 

How  beautiful  is  the  morning  near  to  Na¬ 
ture’s  heart!  Every  blade  of  grass  that  grows  in 
the  clearing  as  well  as  the  undergrowth  in  the 


THE  IMAGINATION 


197 


forest  is  wet  with  dew  and  glistens  in  the  sun.  All 
is  still,  the  waters  mirror  the  rocks  and  trees  along 
the  wooded  shore,  the  loon  gives  a  startled  cry, 
goes  down  into  the  deep,  and  sets  in  motion  upon 
the  surface  of  the  waters  circles  which  we  are  told 
never  cease. 

I  went  by  canoe  with  my  guide  to  explore  some 
distant  lakes.  We  had  crossed  the  divide  and 
fished  in  waters  that  had  seldom  mirrored  the  face 
of  man,  and  as  we  glided  along  the  indented  shore, 
deer  feeding  in  the  rushes  leaped  from  the  water 
and  disappeared;  from  the  hushes  a  fox  with  cun¬ 
ning  eyes  and  upraised  foot  watched  us  as  we 
passed;  from  the  deep,  the  black  bass  leaped,  and 
down  in  the  clear  waters  the  muskellunge  swam 
lazily  over  the  bars.  A  dinner  on  the  shore  among 
the  sturdy  pines  and  hemlocks,  the  crackling  fire, 
savory  bacon  and  aromatic  coffee  to  satisfy  the 
appetite,  made  strong  with  effort — such  was  yester¬ 
day — and  returning  home  as  the  sun  disappeared 
in  the  golden  West,  having  taken  a  plunge  in  the 
waters  of  the  lake,  I  sat  down  in  a  great  chair  on 
the  veranda  to  rest.  Soon  the  purple  twilight 
came,  and  with  it  the  silence  like  the  benediction 
that  falls  between  toil  and  sleep,  and  then  the 
psychic  hour  when  one  sends  his  thoughts  out  into 
the  great  beyond. 


198  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


I  was  weary,  and  musing  on  the  marvellous  ex¬ 
periences  that  had  been  mine,  my  thoughts  went 
out  to  my  own,  in  the  after-life,  and  to  the  many 
new  friends  and  acquaintances  I  have  made  among 
such  people.  There  was  harmony  between  the 
eye  and  brain,  the  tints  between  earth  and  sky  be¬ 
come  neutral.  I  looked  lazily  upon  the  waters, 
at  the  islands  and  down  the  long  bay,  and  as  I 
mused,  there  fell  upon  my  senses  music  so  distant 
as  hardly  to  be  perceptible.  Was  it  music  at  all? 
I  listened  again ;  it  seemed  to  be  in  a  valley  among 
the  hills.  I  could  not  believe  my  senses;  it  was 
distinct  yet  not  distinct;  it  sounded  like  a  great 
orchestra  of  string  and  reed  instruments  played  by 
master  hands,  and  with  it  the  gentle  wind  among 
the  trees  and  all  the  voices  of  Nature  seemed  to 
blend  in  one  great  whole;  it  approached  with  soft 
cadence  and  then  receded,  passing  back  into  the 
silence  where  it  was  lost. 

Looking  again,  I  saw  that  the  harvest  moon, 
which  had  just  risen  over  the  trees,  made  a  bright 
and  shining  path  across  the  lake,  and  as  I  watched 
the  waters  play  and  sparkle  in  that  light  I  was 
astonished  to  see  a  bridge  from  the  farther  shore 
across  the  narrow  bay  leading  straight  to  the  point 
on  which  my  cabin  stood;  it  was  as  perfect  in  out¬ 
line  as  the  one  suspended  across  Niagara’s  Gorge, 


THE  IMAGINATION 


199 


with  the  exception  that  while  definite  in  outline,  it 
was  light  and  almost  transparent;  the  entire  struc¬ 
ture  seemed  made  of  soft,  filmy,  radiant  material, 
definite  yet  indefinite.  As  I  watched,  I  saw  some 
one  approaching  over  the  bridge.  Soon  I  beheld 
the  outline  of  a  woman’s  fonn,  and  beside  her  a 
young  boy,  holding  her  hand.  Was  this  a  dream? 
Startled,  I  aroused  myself,  and  beads  of  perspira¬ 
tion  came  out  upon  my  forehead.  I  felt  the  chair 
and  tightened  my  hold,  I  looked  up  and  dimly 
saw  the  stars  and  constellations  in  the  sky,  and 
the  islands  in  the  lake.  I  saw  again  the  bridge 
of  light  and  those  who  were  coming  nearer.  I 
shut  my  eyes,  and  all  the  moonlight,  the  waters, 
and  the  islands  in  the  waters  were  blotted  out, — 
all  gone  but  the  bridge  of  light  and  those  who 
were  upon  it. 

I  was  alone  in  this  great  forest.  Afraid?  one 
asks — yes,  at  first  until  I  appreciated  that  I  saw 
not  with  the  physical  eye,  but  through  my  senses. 
I  was  looking  into  the  invisible.  I  had  come  to 
know  long  ago  that  the  dead  so-called  were  my 
friends;  so  there  was  naught  to  fear,  and  I  waited 
for  their  coming.  So  distinct  was  the  woman  that 
I  saw  her  dress  of  white — flowing  garments  like 
the  Greeks  wore  in  the  days  of  Pericles, — then  her 
face,  and  as  it  became  visible,  I  half  started  to  my 


200  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


feet,  for  it  was  the  smiling  face  of  my  mother.  I 
observed  her  features — and  how  her  hair  fell  in 
folds  about  her  ears;  her  face  was  just  as  in  the 
old  days,  except  that  age  and  the  lines  of  care 
had  disappeared,  and  as  I  look  she  seemed  to 
know  that  I  had  recognized  her  and  had  noticed 
the  child.  As  the  two  came  nearer,  a  light  dif¬ 
ferent  from  anything  I  had  ever  seen  shone  in  the 
child’s  face  and  through  his  hair;  he  waved  his 
hand  laughing,  and  still  the  two  came  toward  me 
in  the  path  of  the  moonlight. 

I  realized  that  I  was  having  an  experience  en¬ 
tirely  new  and  that  it  was  important  to  make  my 
observations  with  great  care.  I  took  long  deep 
breaths  and  waited.  My  mother  and  the  child 
reached  the  point  on  which  the  bridge  rested  and 
stepped  upon  the  shore,  and  up  the  sandy  path 
toward  the  cabin,  so  near  now  that  every  detail  of 
face  and  form  was  visible,  and  I  knew  the  child 
was  my  son,  who  went  out  into  the  after-life  in 
infancy,  but  who  had  now  grown  to  about  the  age 
of  five  years.  My  pulse  was  beating  fast,  as  my 
heart  pounded  under  the  excitement.  I  was  no 
longer  composed,  for  all  my  love  and  longing  for 
my  mother  and  my  son  swept  over  me;  I  started 
to  my  feet  and  down  the  steps  to  meet  those  who 
came  with  laughing  eyes  and  smiling  lips,  my 


THE  IMAGINATION  201 

hands  outstretched,  but  as  I  touched  them,  they 
seemed  to  dissolve  and  were  gone. 

I  was  upon  the  shore  alone;  the  soft  wind  stirred 
the  branches.  I  walked  down  to  the  water  which 
was  still  sparkling  in  the  path  of  the  moonlight, 
but  the  bridge  was  gone,  and  those  who  came  upon 
it.  This  had  been  no  dream,  for  not  for  one  mo¬ 
ment  had  I  slept,  nor  did  sleep  come  before  the 
dawn  crept  into  the  eastern  sky. 

Experiences  little  less  strange  come  to  others. 
While  Mr.  W.,  we  will  call  him, — one  of  the  most 
brilliant  lawyers  in  America, — was  examining  a 
woman  as  a  witness  in  the  trial  of  an  action  some 
months  ago  in  the  Court  House  in  Buffalo,  she 
gasped,  fell  back  in  her  chair,  and  was  dead. 
Mr.  W.,  wholly  without  imagination  and  painfully 
material,  told  me,  and  I  have  not  the  slightest 
doubt  of  his  veracity,  that  when  he  saw  his  client 
gasp  and  fall  back  in  her  chair,  he  rushed  to¬ 
ward  her,  and  as  he  did  so,  he  saw,  and  plainly 
saw,  a  shadow-like  substance  having  the  form  and 
outline  of  the  witness  emerge  from  the  body  and 
move  away.  I  cite  this  fact  to  show  that  others 
have  had  experiences  similar  to  my  own,  though 
perhaps  not  so  perfect  in  detail. 

Months  have  elapsed  since  I  sat  upon  the  ver¬ 
anda  about  the  log  cabin  in  the  Canadian  wilder- 


202  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ness  and  saw  the  etheric  bridge  and  two  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  after-life,  but  the  impression — 
the  memory — will  never  be  dimmed  in  the  years 
to  come.  To-day  it  is  more  distinct  than  any  in¬ 
cident  of  my  life,  and  now  you  ask,  as  I  have  asked 
— “What  was  it?” 

At  a  subsequent  time  when  occasion  was  pre¬ 
sented,  I  asked  a  member  of  our  spirit-group  to 
give  an  explanation  of  what  had  occurred.  In 
answer  he  said: 

“I  am  familiar  with  the  occurrence  because  I 
was  present.  It  was  an  object  lesson.  We 
wanted  you  to  see  something  of  the  actual  condi¬ 
tions  prevailing  in  this  after-life,  as  you  call  it, 
so  that  you  could  more  clearly  describe  it,  and 
through  you,  others  could  obtain  some  little  ap¬ 
preciation  of  what  waits  beyond  the  physical. 
Before  I  answer  your  question  in  detail,  I  want  to 
say  again,  and  it  cannot  be  repeated  too  often, 
that  the  body  that  you  see  and  touch  is  but  the 
housing,  or  garment  worn  by  another  body,  the 
etheric  or  spirit  body,  which  is  just  as  much  sub¬ 
stance  as  the  flesh,  but  so  refined,  intense,  and  so 
high  in  vibration  that  the  physical  eye  cannot  see 
it  or  the  hand  feel  it.  Now  in  death,  so-called, 
the  etheric  body  leaves  the  physical  housing, 
ceases  to  live  on  the  physical  plane,  and  becomes 


THE  IMAGINATION 


203 


an  inhabitant  of  this  plane  where  everything  is 
etheric,  matter  simply  vibrating  more  rapidly  than 
such  substance  as  is  seen  ordinarily  by  men.  We 
repeat  this  proposition  to  you,  and  you  should  re¬ 
peat  it  to  others  as  often  as  occasion  is  presented, 
because  it  is  entirely  new  in  physics,  and  so  be¬ 
yond  the  world’s  teaching  that  even  with  oft-re¬ 
peated  telling  it  will  be  found  difficult  of  compre¬ 
hension.  It  was  with  this  end  in  view  that  great 
effort  was  made  to  give  you  the  demonstration 
which  we  did. 

“In  further  answer  to  your  question,”  said  the 
member  of  the  spirit  group,  “you  must  know,  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  imagination,  as  that  word 
is  generally  used.  Your  dictionaries  define  it  as 
‘the  image-making  power  of  the  mind;  the  power 
to  create  or  reproduce  ideally  an  object  previously 
perceived;  the  power  to  call  up  mental  images.’ 
There  must  exist  the  sun  before  there  can  be  the 
shadow,  the  real  must  precede  the  imitation,  there 
must  be  the  original  before  the  copy,  the  subject 
before  the  photograph.  One  cannot  imagine 
something  that  has  no  existence  in  Nature.  The 
imagination  must  have  something  basic.  The 
etheric  mental  lines  or  waves  of  the  mind  ordi¬ 
narily  move  at  will  in  and  about  the  unknown  land, 
and  through  the  sub-conscious  brain  get  impres- 


204  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


sions  and  suggestions,  usually  intangible  and  in¬ 
definite.  Such  wandering  of  the  mind  not  being 
understood,  an  entirely  false  conception  is  ob¬ 
tained  of  the  mental  operation.  Everything  in 
the  Universe  is  real,  is  material,  and  the  groping 
of  the  mind  in  the  mental  plane,  is  called  im¬ 
agination,  the  word  itself  being  derived  from 
image,  reflection,  the  likeness  of  something  else. 
All  this  leads  up  to  your  personal  experience. 
What  you  saw  actually  existed,  the  bridge  was 
real,  and  the  mother  and  the  little  son  actually 
crossed,  and  came  to  you  as  you  relate. 

But  you  did  not  see  with  your  physical  eye; 
you  were  alone  in  the  great  forest,  and  around 
you  all  was  natural;  there  was  perfect  harmony 
between  you  and  your  environment;  your  thought 
was  passive,  and  we,  coming  in  close  contact  with 
your  brain,  touched  and  quickened  or  rather  sen¬ 
sitized  your  psychic  sense,  and  by  that  process 
you  saw  more  surely  than  would  have  been  possi¬ 
ble  with  the  physical  eye.  It  is  only  on  rare  oc¬ 
casions  that  it  is  given  to  one  without  psychic 
sight  fully  developed  to  look  into  the  invisible, 
and  it  may  never  come  to  you  again.  The  bridge 
you  saw  was  composed  of  etheric  substance,  ac¬ 
tual  and  real,  constructed  by  mental  operations, 
rather  than  by  the  hands.  The  mind  can  only 


THE  IMAGINATION 


205 


fashion  gross  matter  into  form  by  use  of  the 
hands,  but  etheric  forms  may  be  fashioned  and 
changed  by  mental  operation  alone,  and  those 
whom  you  saw  were  your  own;  they  had  bodies, 
etheric  bodies,  and  they  were  clothed  in  etheric 
garments.  As  you  know,  they  are  not  lost,  but 
live  and  progress  in  this,  the  mental  sphere,  wait¬ 
ing  until  the  period  of  your  development  in  the 
physical  is  completed.  Then  will  come  the  reun¬ 
ion,  the  meeting,  and,  together,  life  everlasting.” 

When  will  the  mind  grasp  the  proposition  that 
all  natural  changes  planned  by  the  Master  Intelli¬ 
gence  mean  progress — when  shall  we  as  a  peo¬ 
ple  be  able  to  look  upon  the  last  great  change  un- 
derstandingly,  when  shall  we  become  big  enough 
to  think  of  the  opportunity  given  to  the  one  who 
goes  forth,  instead  of  thinking  of  our  temporary 
loss?  If  the  world  would  only  comprehend  that 
death  means  living  on  in  more  splendid  environ¬ 
ment,  and  that  those  who  have  gone  forth  con¬ 
tinue  to  live  in  a  world  no  less  material  than  this, 
the  burden  of  sorrow  and  the  awful  fear  of  what 
is  called  death  would  pass  from  the  human  heart. 
Ignorance  is  the  parent  of  fear.  What  matters  it 
whether  one  goes  out  this  year  or  next?  In  the 
after-life  time  does  not  exist,  and  progress  is 
eternal. 


CHAPTER  XX 


POWER  OF  SUGGESTION 

THE  inhabitants  of  this  invisible  world  in¬ 
fluence  and  in  some  measure  control  the 
thought  and  conduct  of  every  individual. 
They  are  more  progressive  than  we,  and  having  no. 
incentive  to  accumulate  money,  devote  themselves, 
to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  They  delve’ 
deeply  into  the  forces  of  Nature,  and  dealing  with 
matter  in  greater  refinement,  make  from  time  to 
time  discoveries,  some  of  which  are  utilized  on 
the  physical  plane. 

Faraday,  who  first  made  practical  the  force 
known  as  electricity,  did  not  cease  his  investiga¬ 
tions  with  dissolution,  but  has  been  a  potent  fac¬ 
tor  in  its  development  through  suggestion  to  those 
who  devote  their  time  to  the  utilization  of  that 
force.  Raphael  did  not  cease  to  portray  upon 
canvas  his  wonderful  creations,  nor  did  Michael 
Angelo  lose  his  ability  to  chisel  marble  into  forms 

of  beauty  when  he  ceased  to  inhabit  this  plane. 

206 


POWER  OF  SUGGESTION 


207 


The  years  that  have  elapsed  since  they  went  on, 
have  been  years  of  opportunity  and  progress. 
Mozart,  Beethoven,  and  all  the  other  musicians 
who  gave  us  our  great  compositions,  have  they 
gone  down  into  the  silent  and  relentless  darkness, 
or  have  they  continued  their  work,  impressing  on 
others  from  day  to  day  new  music  that  enriches 
the  world?  Milton,  Dry  den,  Pope,  Goldsmith, 
Moore,  Wordsworth,  Bums,  Browning  of  modem 
times,  Seneca,  Pliny  the  Elder,  Plutarch,  Epicte¬ 
tus,  Tacitus  and  Cervantes,  of  an  earlier  period, 
were  all  their  wonderful  writings  and  philosophies 
produced  without  suggestion  from  the  master 
minds  in  the  more  advanced  spheres?  I  know  this 
one  fact,  that  people  in  the  after-life  are  so  close, 
so  in  touch  with  our  thoughts  that  it  is  difficult  for 
any  one  to  say  that  this  or  that  is  the  product  of 
his  own  intellect.  Progress  owes  much  to  the  in¬ 
visible. 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  well  known  to  me  in  the 
after  life,  speaking  on  this  subject  said: 

“Let  me  give  the  most  remarkable  illustration 
of  spirit  suggestion — the  immortal  Shakespeare. 
Neither  of  his  parents  could  read  or  write.  He 
grew  up  in  a  small  village  among  ignorant  people, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Avon.  There  was  nothing  in 
the  peaceful,  quiet  landscape  on  which  he  looked, 


208  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


nothing  in  the  low  hills,  the  undulating  fields, 
nothing  in  the  lazy  flowing  stream  to  excite  the 
imagination.  Nothing  in  his  early  life  calculated 
to  sow  the  seeds  of  the  subtlest  and  sublimest 
thought.  There  was  nothing  in  his  education  or 
lack  of  education  to  account  for  what  he  did.  It 
is  supposed  that  he  attended  school  in  his  home 
village,  hut  of  that  there  is  no  proof.  He  went 
to  London  when  young,  and  within  a  few  years 
became  interested  in  Black  Friars  Theatre,  where 
he  was  actor,  dramatist,  and  manager.  He  was 
never  engaged  in  a  business  counted  reputable  in 
that  day.  Socially  he  occupied  a  position  below 
servants.  The  law  described  him  as  a  “  sturdy 
vagabond.”  He  died  at  52. 

How  such  a  man  could  produce  the  works  which 
he  did  has  been  the  wonder  of  all  time.  Not  sat¬ 
isfied  that  one  with  such  limited  advantages  could 
possibly  have  written  the  master  pieces  of  litera¬ 
ture,  it  has  been  by  some  contended  that  Bacon 
was  the  author  of  all  Shakespeare’s  comedies  and 
tragedies. 

It  is  a  fact  to  be  noted  that  in  none  of  this 
man’s  plays  is  there  any  mention  of  his  contem¬ 
poraries.  He  made  reference  to  no  king,  queen, 
poet,  author,  sailor,  soldier,  statesman,  or  priest 
of  his  own  period.  He  lived  in  an  age  of  great 


POWER  OF  SUGGESTION 


209 


deeds,  in  the  time  of  religious  wars,  in  the  days 
of  the  armada,  the  edict  of  Nantes,  the  massacres 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  the  victory  of  Lepanto,  the 
assassination  of  Henry  III  of  France,  and  the  exe¬ 
cution  of  Mary  Stuart;  yet  he  did  not  mention  a 
single  incident  of  his  day  and  time. 

The  brain  that  conceived  “Timon  of  Athens” 
was  a  Greek  in  the  days  of  Pericles  and  familiar 
with  the  tragedies  of  that  country.  The  mind  that 
dictated  “Julius  Caesar”  was  an  inhabitant  of  the 
Eternal  City  when  Caesar  led  his  legions  in  the 
field.  The  author  of  “Lear”  was  a  Pagan;  of 
“Romeo  and  Juliet,”  an  Italian  who  knew  the 
ecstasies  of  love.  The  author  of  those  plays  must 
have  been  a  physician,  for  he  shows  a  knowledge 
of  medicine  and  the  symptoms  of  disease;  a  mu¬ 
sician,  for  in  “The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona”  he 
uses  every  musical  term  known  to  his  contempo¬ 
raries.  He  was  a  lawyer,  for  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  forms  and  expressions  used  by  that  pro¬ 
fession.  He  was  a  botanist  because  he  named 
nearly  all  known  plants.  He  was  an  astronomer 
and  a  naturalist  and  wrote  intelligently  upon  the 
stars  and  natural  science.  He  was  a  sailor,  or 
he  could  not  have  written  “The  Tempest.”  He 
was  a  savage  and  trod  the  forest’s  silent  depths. 
He  knew  all  crimes,  all  regrets,  all  virtues,  and 


210  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


their  rewards.  He  knew  the  unspoken  thoughts, 
desires  and  ways  of  beasts.  He  lived  all  lives. 
His  brain  was  a  sea  on  which  the  waves  touch  all 
the  shores  of  experience.  He  was  the  wonder  of 
his  time  and  of  ours. 

Was  it  possible  for  any  man  of  his  education 
and  experience  to  conceive  the  things  which  he 
did?  All  the  Shakespearean  works  were,  beyond 
a  doubt,  the  product  of  his  pen,  but  the  concep¬ 
tions,  the  plays,  the  tragedies  were  the  work  of 
many  brains,  given  Shakespeare  by  spirit  sugges¬ 
tion.  He  was  but  the  sensitive  instrument  through 
which  a  group  of  learned  and  distinguished  schol¬ 
ars,  inhabitants  of  many  lands  when  in  earth-life, 
gave  to  posterity  the  sublime  masterpieces  of  the 
Bard  of  Avon.” 

The  writings  of  Swedenborg  were  produced  in 
the  same  way.  Sardeau  wrote  by  spirit  sugges¬ 
tion,  and  as  a  fact  many  of  the  best  works  of  so- 
called  great  men  have  been  in  part  the  action  of 
the  minds  of  those  beyond  our  earthly  plane,  who, 
working  in  conjunction  with  man,  do  something 
for  the  uplift  of  the  human  race. 

Knowing  as  I  do  the  potent  influence  of  spirit 
people  upon  the  world’s  thought,  and  how  in  every 
way  they  seek  to  enlighten  us  as  to  the  change 


POWER  OF  SUGGESTION  211 

called  death,  I  have  wondered  what  spirit  im¬ 
pressed  this  poem  on  a  mortal  mind, — 

“As  the  faint  dawn  crept  upwards,  grey  and  dim, 
He  saw  her  move  across  the  past  to  him — 

Her  eyes  as  they  had  looked  in  long-gone  years, 
Tender  with  love,  and  soft  with  thoughts  of  tears, 

Her  hands,  outstretched  as  if  in  wonderment. 
Nestled  in  his,  and  rested  there,  content.” 

“Dear  wife,”  he  whispered,  “what  glad  dream  is 
this? 

I  feel  your  clasp — your  long-remembered  kiss 
Touches  my  lips,  as  when  you  used  to  creep 
Into  my  heart;  and  yet,  this  is  not  sleep — 

Is  it  some  vision,  that  with  night  will  fly?” 
“Nay,  dear,”  she  answered;  “it  is  really  I.” 

“Dear  heart,  it  is  you  I  know! 

But  I  knew  not  the  dead  could  meet  us  so, 

Bodied  as  we  are — see,  how  like  we  stand!” 
“Like,”  she  replied,  “in  form,  and  face,  and 
hand.” 

Silent  awhile,  he  held  her  to  his  breast 
As  if  afraid  to  try  the  further  test — 


212  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Then,  speaking  quickly,  “Must  you  go  away?” 

“Husband,”  she  murmured,  “neither  night  nor 
day!” 

Close  to  her  then,  she  drew  his  head, 

Trembling,  “I  do  not  understand,”  he  said. 

“I  thought  the  spirit  world  was  far  apart  .  .  .” 

“Nay,”  she  replied,  “it  is  not  now,  dear  heart! 

“Quick,  hold  fast  my  hand,  lean  on  me  .  .  . 
so  ... 

Cling  to  me,  dear!  .  .  .  ’tis  but  a  step  to  go!” 

The  white-faced  watchers  rose,  beside  the  bed; 

“Shut  out  the  day,”  they  sighed,  “our  friend  is 
dead.” 

This  is  a  substantial  description  of  what  is 
actually  occurring  from  hour  to  hour.  In  the 
change  as  the  individual  catches  his  breath  in  the 
etheric  atmosphere,  and  his  vision  is  clarified  as 
a  result  of  throwing  off  the  flesh  tissue,  he  sees 
spirit  people,  “like  in  form  and  face  and  hand,” 
so  natural,  so  unlike  what  one  has  been  led  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  it  is  hard  to  understand.  But  let  us  re¬ 
member  that  the  change  is  a  natural  one,  that  all 
Nature’s  changes  are  for  our  good,  planned  by 
the  Master  Intelligence,  in  order  that  our  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  development  may  be  increased,  and  we 
may  grow  more  God-like.  Knowing  this  we  can 


POWER  OF  SUGGESTION  213 

meet  the  dawn  of  the  new  conditions  with  confi¬ 
dence  and  courage. 

Man  is  a  part  of  Nature;  his  intelligence  being 
developed  and  refined  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
he  is  an  integral  portion  of  that  force  which  we 
term  God.  It  is  not  necessary  that  we  bend  the 
knee  and  worship  at  any  shrine  or  altar,  but  know¬ 
ing  that  we  are  part  of  that  intelligent  force  which 
holds  dominion  in  Nature,  it  is  incumbent  upon 
us  to  do  no  act  unworthy  of  our  position,  to  live 
where  the  best  thoughts  grow,  day  by  day  to  strive 
to  maintain  the  integrity  and  standard  set  for  us, 
and  ultimately  to  do  our  utmost  to  increase  that 
force  called  good,  or  God. 

In  all  ages  Man  has  pursued  happiness  by 
countless  paths  and  innumerable  roads.  Some 
have  thought  that  within  the  hollow  crown  that 
rounds  the  mortal  temples  of  a  king,  it  kept  its 
seat;  some  have  thought  that  on  the  throne  it  sat 
and  smiled,  and  have  waded  through  seas  of  blood 
to  reach  it;  some  have  thought  that  behind  the 
walls  of  splendour  it  made  its  home;  others,  de¬ 
spairing  of  finding  it  there,  have  pictured  a  world 
beyond,  where  happiness  could  be  found  perfect 
and  complete.  But  let  us  realize  that  there  is  only 
one  royal  road  which  leads  to  happiness,  and  that 
is  to  practise  the  plain,  old,  yet  incomparable 


214  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


maxim,  “Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them 
do  unto  you.”  These  sacred  words  uttered  in  dif¬ 
ferent  form  six  hundred  years  before  the  alleged 
birth  of  Christ,  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  great  Con¬ 
fucius,  and  are  to-day  found  in  nearly  every  sa¬ 
cred  volume  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


NEVER  A  SECRET  IN  THE  WORLD 

THERE  never  has  been  and  never  can  be  a 
secret  in  this  world.  This  is  an  entirely 
new  proposition,  which,  if  understood, 
would  prevent  much  crime  and  unhappiness,  and 
would  enrich  all  mankind.  There  has  always 
been  an  idea  that  many  things  can  be  done  se¬ 
cretly;  that,  for  instance,  one  can  lie,  and  it  will 
never  be  known;  that  one  can  cheat  and  defraud 
another,  and  not  be  found  out;  that  a  thief  can 
enter  a  home  without  detection;  that  immorality 
can  be  carried  on  without  society  being  the  wiser. 
All  these  wrongs  are  being  done  under  the  belief 
that  they  can  be  accomplished  secretly,  and  most 
of  them  are  done  in  this  manner  so  far  as  our 
world  is  concerned.  Mankind  has  been  taught 
that  God  sees  all  and  knows  all,  hut  men  and 
women  do  not  believe  it;  otherwise  crimes  would 
not  be  committed,  and  the  moral  code  would  not 
he  violated. 

Pride  and  the  speech  of  people  have  a  great  in- 
215 


216  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


fluence  on  conduct.  Now,  suppose  the  thief  knew 
that  if  he  took  the  property  of  another,  his  act 
would,  beyond  peradventure,  be  exposed  in  the 
morning  paper,  and  he  would  be  under  immediate 
arrest.  With  conviction  absolutely  certain,  would 
he  commit  the  crime? 

Suppose  the  business  man,  or  captain  of  finance, 
knew  that  if  he  formed  unlawful  combinations 
and  defrauded  the  public,  he  would  certainly  be 
imprisoned;  suppose  men  and  women  knew  that 
violations  of  the  moral  code  would  be  known  and 
censured  within  the  hour — would  wrong  and 
crime  go  rampant  through  the  land?  Men  and 
women  do  these  acts  in  the  belief  that  they  are 
discreet  enough  to  so  cover  them,  that  they  will 
never  be  known.  Such  people  have  little  idea 
that  every  act — I  will  go  further — everything  is 
known  by  those  in  the  after-life  who  are  inter¬ 
ested  in  our  welfare.  But  they  are  far  away  one 
says.  No,  they  touch  elbows  and  walk  beside  us 
day  by  day.  One  cannot  comprehend  God  as  a 
personality  witnessing  each  act  and  knowing  the 
individual  thought  of  over  400,000,000  of  people, 
but  one  can  comprehend  the  fact  that  the  after¬ 
life  is  inhabited  by  those  who  have  passed  through 
the  earth-life,  that  they  improve  their  condition  by 
helping  those  in  need  of  assistance,  that  by  their 


NEVER  A  SECRET  IN  THE  WORLD  217 


silent  suggestion  through  the  sub-conscious  brain, 
they  try  to  aid  us,  keep  in  touch  with  our  thought, 
and  are  silent  witnesses  of  all  the  wrong  in  the 
physical  world. 

I  do  not  mean  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
after-life  know  each  wrong  act.  What  I  do  mean 
is  that  every  man,  woman,  or  child  has  loved  ones 
in  the  after-life  who  take  a  deep  interest  in  his 
or  her  welfare,  be  their  position  high  or  low.  In 
other  words,  the  ties  of  blood,  the  bonds  of  love, 
the  interest  of  friends  are  not  severed  by  dissolu¬ 
tion.  As  the  father,  mother,  brother,  sister,  wife, 
or  child,  know  by  experience  the  awful  effect  of 
wrong-doing,  and  are  able  to  come  about  us  and 
witness  our  conduct,  note  our  mental  vibrations 
and  so  read  our  thoughts,  is  it  not  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world  that  they  should  try  to  stay 
our  evil  acts?  If  mankind  knew  this  fact — that 
nothing  is  ever  really  done  in  secret — would 
wrong  be  committed  at  all? 

Men  and  women  are  restrained  often  by  pride; 
they  only  stray  from  the  path  of  rectitude  when 
they  think  that  they  go  in  secret.  Teach  men  the 
truth,  and  it  will  help  to  make  the  home  sacred, 
to  empty  the  prisons;  it  will  add  more  than  any 
other  one  thing  to  the  sum  total  of  human  happi¬ 


ness. 


218  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Again,  the  churches  teach  in  substance  that 
though  our  sins  be  scarlet,  yet  we  can  become 
as  white  as  snow,  and  that  there  is  forgiveness 
for  all  sin.  One  sect  goes  so  far  as  to  vest  that 
power  in  the  church.  The  practical  result  of 
such  teaching  has  been — and  is — to  license  wrong 
and  crime. 

Men  do  wrong  under  the  impression  that  in 
some  way  they  will  escape  the  just  consequences 
of  their  wrongful  act.  I  have  said  before,  and 
I  will  say  again,  that  the  world  is  not  a  jumble, 
but  controlled  by  law;  for  every  effect  there  is  a 
cause,  and  that  cause  is  governed  by  law.  Every 
act  produces  a  result.  Every  thought  being  ma¬ 
terial  creates  a  condition  about  us,  and  is 
retained  in  one  of  the  sixteen  or  more  million 
cells  of  the  brain.  When,  therefore,  any  one 
goes  out  of  this  life  and  enters  the  etheric  where 
everything,  the  good  and  bad,  is  intensified  be¬ 
yond  mind-measure,  the  storehouse  of  the  brain 
is  opened,  and  he  or  she  is  confronted  with 
the  record  which  has  been  made.  Nothing  is  for¬ 
gotten;  the  good  get  reward,  otherwise  courage 
would  be  lost;  punishment  for  wrong-doing  is 
terrible  beyond  words.  Every  one  must  bear  his 
own  burden,  must  meet  again  every  wrongful  act 
and  make  in  ways  that  are  provided  complete 


NEVER  A  SECRET  IN  THE  WORLD  219 


restitution.  This  is  very  difficult,  and  the  way  is 
very  long. 

One  who  believes  that  the  world  of  men  marks 
the  beginning  or  the  end  has  no  more  com¬ 
prehension  of  the  true  situation  than  the  mole,  fol¬ 
lowing  the  path  which  it  has  made  under  the  dead 
grass  in  the  meadow-lands,  knows  of  the  physical 
world. 

I  have  been  told  two  most  important  truths  by 
those  who  have  honoured  me  by  their  teaching: 
that  there  never  has  been  and  never  can  be  a  se¬ 
cret  in  the  world:  that  man  has  no  saviour  but 
himself,  and  that  the  wrong  which  he  does,  he 
must  undo.  Whatever  obligations  he  contracts,  he 
must  meet.  I  have  had  other  teachings  that  have 
appealed  most  strongly  to  reason.  One  of  these 
is  “do  no  worry,”  but  fit  yourself  to  meet  situa¬ 
tions  from  day  to  day.  The  obstacles  which  we 
meet  are  of  our  own  creation,  the  troubles  we 
have  are  of  our  own  making.  If  we  possessed  all 
wisdom,  we  would  then  be  Gods,  and  not  make 
mistakes.  No  one  is  perfect  in  this  world  or  has 
reached  full  development,  and  until  such  time 
every  one  as  a  result  of  lack  of  wisdom  and  judg¬ 
ment  will  continue  to  make  mistakes  and  create 
obstacles  over  which  he  will  stumble.  But  that 
is  not  misfortune;  mistakes  are  necessary,  and  it 


220  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


is  only  by  creating  and  overcoming  them  that  we 
gain  wisdom,  and  know  how  to  avoid  the  same 
conditions  again.  They  are  the  stepping  stones  to 
the  heights  of  understanding,  and  are  good  for  us. 
Let  us  meet  them  cheerfully  and  appreciate  the 
lesson  each  teaches.  Ordinary  errors  ought  not  to 
cause  us  anxiety,  for  it  is  only  through  them  that 
we  make  progress.  A  just  and  full  appreciation 
of  this  fact  would  take  from  the  mind  the  use¬ 
less  burden  of  worry.  Calamity  is  Nature’s  spur; 
trials  are  not  only  essential,  but  are  disciplinary; 
misfortune  is  opportunity. 

Other  desirable  things  which  I  have  learned 
from  this  unusual  source  are:  “We  have  no  right 
to  burden  others  with  our  sorrows”;  all  Nature  is 
optimistic,  all  tending  toward  good;  as  one  thinks, 
so  he  is.  There  are  some  men  so  pessimistic 
that  given  the  choice  of  two  evils,  they  insist  upon 
taking  both;  they  see  no  good  in  anything  and 
are  ever  looking  upon  the  dark  side,  anticipat¬ 
ing  misfortune.  The  mind  is  a  wonderful  force, 
its  influence  extending  much  further  than  we  have 
any  idea  of,  and  one  can  do  very  much  to  make 
the  world  happier.  On  the  other  hand,  one  can  do 
much  to  make  others  unhappy  by  throwing  upon 
them  one’s  own  mental  condition,  and  many  people 
by  force  of  habit  do  this,  unmindful  of  the  result. 


NEVER  A  SECRET  IN  THE  WORLD  221 


I  recall  not  long  ago  a  morning  in  the  spring¬ 
time.  The  sun  was  warm,  the  air  balmy,  dande¬ 
lions  bared  their  velvety  bosom  to  the  sky,  tulips 
and  daffodils  fringed  the  borders.  The  lawns 
were  carpeted  with  green,  birds  had  returned  from 
the  south  and  were  building  nests  and  singing. 
It  was  a  morning  when  a  temperament  that  could 
not  respond  to  environment  was  poor  indeed.  As 
I  stepped  out  upon  the  avenue  on  my  way  to  my 
office,  I  saw  a  prominent  citizen  approaching. 
His  head  was  bent,  his  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  stone 
walk,  his  mouth  was  set;  dissatisfaction  and  un¬ 
rest  showed  in  his  face.  The  impression,  as  his 
mental  condition  touched  my  own,  was  most  de¬ 
pressing.  I  knew  the  man  well;  involuntarily 
turning  as  I  met  him,  I  said: — 

“Don’t  take  that  down  into  the  city  to-day.” 

“Take  what?”  he  answered  quickly. 

“The  countenance  you  are  wearing  this  morn¬ 
ing,”  I  replied. 

He  looked  at  me  in  amazement  for  a  moment 
and  inquired:  “What  is  the  matter  with  it?” 

I  spoke  with  kindness,  saying:  “It  is  full  of 
discontent,  unrest,  and  worry;  you  look  at  war  with 
all  mankind.  You  will  make  miserable  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  who  sees  you  with  your 
present  expression.” 


222  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


“Have  I  made  that  impression  on  you?”  he 
asked. 

“Yes,”  I  answered. 

“I  would  not  like  to  create  that  impression,” 
was  the  reply.  “I  have  never  thought  that  my 
mental  attitude  affected  those  with  whom  I  came 
in  contact.  That  is  a  new  idea  to  me.” 

“Have  you  observed  the  morning?”  I  asked. 

“No,”  he  answered,  “I  have  been  so  engrossed 
in  thought  that  I  have  not  observed  the  day.” 

I  then  said:  “I  want  you  to  forget  the  things 
you  are  worrying  about.  Look  up  and  see  how 
beautiful  the  world  is,  and  feel  what  a  privilege  is 
ours  to  be  a  part  of  it.  Listen  to  the  songs  of  the 
robins,  watch  the  blue  birds,  respond  to  the  flowers, 
get  in  harmony  with  it  all,  and  as  we  meet  those 
we  know  greet  them  cordially,  and  watch  the  ef¬ 
fect  on  them  and  on  yourself.” 

He  walked  for  a  little  way  in  silence;  the  sug¬ 
gestion  was  working,  his  jaws  were  relaxed,  the 
frown  had  left  his  face;  his  eyes  had  kindled,  his 
lips  smiled.  With  his  expression  wholly  changed, 
he  walked,  a  different  man,  and  as  he  met  his 
friends  and  acquaintances  with  a  cheery  “good 
morning,”  his  joy  and  happiness  radiated.  Others 
caught  the  charm  of  his  personality,  the  world  was 
happier,  and  so  was  he. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


MENTAL  ACTIVITY 

THOUGHTS  are  things.  If  not  things  they 
are  nothings,  which  is  tantamount  to  say¬ 
ing  that  thought  does  not  exist.  If  you 
design  a  house,  your  drawing  is  an  image  of  the 
thought-house  which  was  in  your  mind  before  you 
made  the  draft.  You  see  a  certain  vessel  which  is 
used  for  holding  water,  and  you  name  the  vessel  a 
bucket.  The  image  of  that  bucket  is  in  your  mind, 
and  when  you  hear  the  word  bucket,  your  mind 
recognizes  the  vessel  either  because  you  have  seen 
it  or  heard  it  described.  You  use  the  word  bucket 
in  the  hearing  of  a  thousand  people  who  have  seen 
or  known  of  the  same  bucket,  and  every  person  of 
that  thousand  will  perceive  in  his  mind  the  exact 
image  of  that  bucket.  The  word  bucket  is  not  in 
the  image  of  the  object,  but  when  spoken  refers 
the  mind  of  the  hearer  who  has  seen  it  to  the  image 
of  the  bucket  as  it  is  indelibly  printed  on  or  in  his 
psychic  ether.  Drawings  are  things,  images  are 

things — emblems  of  other  things.  From  these 

223 


224  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


drawings,  images,  and  emblems  of  tilings  the  mind 
constructs  the  particular  thing  in  psychic  ether, 
and  this  psychic  house,  bucket,  or  other  thing,  is 
the  thought,  and  wrought  in  material  form  is  the 
shape  and  counterpart  of  the  spiritual  thought. 

It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  the  mind  to  be 
inactive  for  one  single  moment  whether  in  sleep  or 
awake.  The  matter  composing  the  mind  is  in  a 
state  of  constant  activity,  so  intense  in  its  vibratory 
action  that  it  is  impossible  for  that  substance  to  be 
inactive  for  one  instant.  The  brain  in  which  ideas 
are  fashioned  is  a  perfect  machine  in  constant 
motion.  The  creations  or  product  emanating  from 
such  instrument  are  never  visible  unless  physically 
clothed,  and  only  a  very  few  mental  conceptions 
ever  find  expression  in  this  world  of  ours.  The 
mental  products  from  millions  of  minds  in  active 
operation  vary  as  do  the  products  that  come  from 
the  machines  in  the  countless  factories.  The  men¬ 
tal  emanations  flowing  from  a  brain  highly  devel¬ 
oped  appear  to  spirit  people  as  lines  of  force  ex¬ 
tending  and  undulating  from  the  soul-center,  the 
longer  those  lines  of  force,  the  more  active  the  sub¬ 
stance  composing  them,  and  the  lighter  their  ap¬ 
pearance. 

The  electric  or  gas  light,  as  we  use  that  term,  is 
simply  burning  substance  in  a  high  degree  of  act- 


MENTAL  ACTIVITY 


225 


ivity,  and  the  greater  the  activity  the  more  perfect 
the  light.  The  mental  emanations  going  out  from 
great,  generous  souls  are  light.  Those  from  one 
selfish  and  cruel  are  slow  in  action  and  necessarily 
have  a  dark  appearance.  It  is  like  comparing  the 
flame  of  a  tallow  candle  to  the  incandescent  lamp. 
Thoughts  again  may  emanate  from  a  brain  so  un¬ 
developed  as  to  give  out  but  little  light,  in  reality 
casting  a  shadow  in  the  etheric  atmosphere. 

There  are  millions  of  those  lines  of  force  or 
emanations  going  out  from  mentalities  continu¬ 
ously,  and  they  make  up  what  has  ordinarily  been 
termed  the  auras  of  individuals.  Much  talk  of 
the  aura  surrounding  each  individual  has  been 
practically  meaningless  because  of  the  failure  to 
comprehend  that  mind  is  matter,  and  that  thoughts 
have  form  and  substance.  Admitting  this  hy¬ 
pothesis,  we  can  see  at  once  how  every  individual 
is  surrounded  with  thought  emanations  that  go  out 
from  his  mentality  as  the  perfume  goes  out  from 
the  rose.  It  may  be  sweet  and  intoxicating  or  it 
may  be  sickly  and  offensive.  There  is  scarcely  a 
state  in  which  man  finds  himself  that  has  not  its 
counterpart  in  vegetable  life.  Those  emanations 
or  lines  of  force  are  perfectly  visible  to  the  in¬ 
habitants  in  the  after-life  who  know  from  actual 
observation  the  character  as  well  as  the  thought  of 


226  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  individual.  We  in  the  physical  world,  not  hav¬ 
ing  eyes  developed  to  catch  those  emanations,  be¬ 
cause  of  their  very  high  potency,  know  very  little 
concerning  them.  If  we  knew,  our  knowledge 
would  revolutionize  the  conduct  of  men.  But  we 
feel  the  effect  of  those  lines  of  force  when  we 
come  in  contact  with  them;  instinctively  we  feel 
the  personality  of  others.  Thought  emanations 
from  others,  both  in  and  out  of  the  physical  body, 
make  an  impression  upon  our  sub-conscious  brain, 
and  these  with  our  own  suggestions  are  continually 
entering  our  brain  machine,  are  weighed,  are  either 
rejected  or  accepted,  and  are  expressed,  so  that 
there  is  a  continual  taking  in  and  throwing  off  in 
our  mental  operations.  It  is  a  process  as  natural 
as  the  heart  action  and  as  little  understood.  Few 
people  are  able  to  tell  the  process  through  which 
and  by  which  they  reach  their  conclusions,  but 
mental  lines  of  force  strike  our  mentality,  come  in 
contact  with  our  own  emanations  so  that  uncon¬ 
sciously  we  receive  an  impression  and  arrive  at  a 
conclusion  as  to  the  personality  of  another.  The 
first  impression  that  we  unconsciously  get  is  always 
the  one  which  should  guide  us. 

These  thought-lines,  as  I  have  said,  have  colour, 
depending  upon  their  length,  and  as  there  is  no 
stagnation  in  Nature  their  general  condition  is  con- 


MENTAL  ACTIVITY 


227 


stantly  changing;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  progres¬ 
sing  toward  the  light  or  becoming  darker.  As  the 
individual  self  reaches  a  high  state  of  spirituality 
with  good  thoughts  and  aspirations,  the  graceful 
lines  of  force  reach  far,  the  personality  is  lighted 
up,  and  we  feel  the  presence  of  a  good  man  or  a 
good  woman.  The  ignorant  who  live  for  self,  with 
uncontrolled  temper  and  unlicensed  passion  have 
little  spiritual  development,  live  in  darkness  day 
by  day,  and  their  surroundings  are  exactly  in  ac¬ 
cord  with  their  mental  state,  for  every  man  occu¬ 
pies  just  that  position  in  society  which  he  is  quali¬ 
fied  to  occupy.  That  must  be  so,  or  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect  would  be  a  failure. 

So  we  see  that  in  our  daily  life  we  are  creating  a 
condition  about  us  and  around  us,  spiritually  as 
well  as  physically.  We  are  making  a  physical 
condition  in  which  we  live  from  day  to  day  and  a 
spiritual  one  as  well,  and  into  the  latter  we  pass 
at  the  moment  of  dissolution.  When  divested  of 
the  flesh  garment,  we  continue  in  just  that  mental 
state  which  we  have  created  and  from  which  there 
is  no  escape,  until  we,  by  great  individual  effort, 
change  our  mental  state  and  acquire  new  and 
higher  aspirations  and  thereby  create  a  better  en¬ 
vironment. 

There  are  some  individuals  who  bring  into  a 


228  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


home  peace,  happiness,  and  joy.  There  are  other 
pessimistic  individuals  who  cast  a  gloom  wherever 
they  go.  In  the  presence  of  the  last-named  the 
laughter  of  children  stops.  There  are  individuals 
whose  personality  is  so  offensive  that  we  avoid 
them  whenever  possible.  The  physical  outlines, 
clothing  the  personality,  are  indicative  also  of  the 
true  character  of  the  individual.  Men  living  on 
the  earth-plane  are,  with  our  present  understand¬ 
ing  of  these  things,  very  apt  to  be  judged  according 
to  their  outward  or  physical  appearance.  In  the 
after-life,  divested  of  the  flesh  garment,  character 
is  apparent  to  all  those  with  whom  intercourse  is 
held,  and  many  will  stand  before  the  mirror  of 
Nature  in  their  nakedness;  in  truth,  our  person¬ 
ality  has  always  been  visible  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  after-life,  because  they  too  are  living  a  ma¬ 
terial  existence,  and  being  etheric,  all  etheric  or 
mental  action  is  visible  to  them  when  they  come 
within  the  zone  of  our  thought  action. 

The  very  proper  desire  of  mankind  is  to  enrich 
itself,  but  the  difficulty  is  that  we  have  yet  to  learn 
of  what  true  riches  consist.  True,  money  is  neces¬ 
sary  during  this  little  journey  on  earth,  but  true 
wealth  consists  of  happiness,  and  that  is  found  in 
leading  a  chaste,  upright,  just  life,  in  doing  some¬ 
thing  for  others,  and  being  true  to  oneself.  Lives 


MENTAL  ACTIVITY 


229 


of  that  character  grow  rich  indeed,  and  they  do  not 
have  to  wait  until  the  after-life  to  enjoy  the  wealth 
so  gathered.  Upon  the  other  hand,  the  captain  of 
finance  who,  with  ruthless  hands,  has  taken  from 
others  what  they  have  earned  and  has  accumulated 
a  great  horde,  having  no  lofty  aspirations,  goes  out 
into  the  next  world  a  pauper  indeed,  for  his  bet¬ 
ter  self  has  not  been  developed,  and  the  lines  of 
force  that  have  emanated  from  his  mentality  are 
short  and  dark. 

Those  who  pass  out  having  led  fairly  good  lives, 
find  a  condition  where  it  is  light,  a  condition  of 
their  own  making;  in  the  change  they  seldom  lose 
consciousness,  but  pass  into  an  environment  where 
to  the  limit  of  their  capacity,  everything  is  under¬ 
stood,  where  without  the  loss  of  a  day  they  are 
ready  to  continue  to  labour,  to  comprehend  the 
economy  of  Nature’s  law,  to  better  understand  their 
duties  and  their  responsibilities,  and  to  continue 
a  part  of  the  active  force.  Those  who  have  led 
narrow  and  selfish  lives  find  just  the  condition  that 
they  have  been  from  day  to  day  making,  and  that 
condition  is  a  grossly  material  one.  If  you  were 
to  build  a  house  without  windows,  how  could  you 
expect  light  to  penetrate?  The  position  of  men  in 
the  state  referred  to  is  not  one  to  be  desired.  If 
the  world  would  only  learn  that  true  wealth  and 


230  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


happiness  are  found  in  doing  the  best  we  can  under 
all  circumstances,  and  that  wealth  righteously  gath¬ 
ered  is  not  only  enjoyed  here,  but  is  taken  into  the 
after-life,  the  ambition  and  desire  of  humanity 
would  be  changed  in  an  instant.  It  is  a  misfortune 
to  have  been  wrongly  educated,  and  especially  to 
have  been  taught  that  money  can  purchase  happi¬ 
ness,  or  that  money  is  the  one  goal  that  all  should 
seek. 

A  spirit  speaking  on  this  general  subject  has 
said: 

“You  all  give  off  an  aura,  and  if  you  knew  the 
conditions  emanating  from  some  people,  you  would 
very  quickly  eject  them  from  your  home.  In  those 
whose  lives  are  not  strictly  upright  we  find  the  aura 
very  bad,  mixed,  cloudy,  confused.  The  emana¬ 
tions  of  people  of  good  health  vary  in  shade  from 
white,  pale  pink,  to  rose  colour.  When  the  auras 
approach  the  dark  colours,  browns,  greys,  and 
blacks,  we  know  that  the  person  is  wrong  in  some 
way.  Now  this  aura  is  influenced  by  passions  such 
as  hate,  envy,  malice,  evil  speaking,  anger,  and 
when  one  sets  out  to  do  an  injury  to  another,  let 
me  assure  you  that  he  injures  himself  far  more 
than  the  other  person. 

The  power  of  thought  for  good  or  ill  is  demon- 


MENTAL  ACTIVITY 


231 


strated  in  various  ways.  Let  a  number  of  persons 
concentrate  an  evil  thought  upon  another,  and  the 
effect  will  be  found  most  disastrous.  Again,  when 
a  band  of  people  concentrate  their  thought  upon 
one  who  is  ill,  they  thereby  send  him  vital  force 
and  strength  and  power.  The  result  is  restoration 
to  health.  This  is  the  basis  of  the  health  that 
comes  through  Christian  Science  practice.  It  is 
all  the  result  of  concentrating  the  lines  of  force  at 
a  specified  point.  The  result  is  good  or  bad  de¬ 
pending  upon  the  character  of  the  force  that  is 
projected  and  concentrated  at  a  given  point. 

I  have  been  told  that  a  clean,  highly  de¬ 
veloped  thought  goes  out  into  the  ether  with  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  a  search  light,  starting  from  a  central 
point  and  radiating  through  space.  Mind  is  mat¬ 
ter,  and  thoughts  are  things,  and  so  wonderfully 
active  is  the  operation,  that  we  are  continually 
forming  our  mental  creations  in  such  refined  sub¬ 
stance. 

With  all  our  development,  and  it  has  been  great, 
we  are  able  to  hear  only  a  few  of  the  sounds  that 
vibrate  in  our  atmosphere.  With  all  our  achieve¬ 
ments  we  are  unable  to  see  motion  except  it  be  slow 
in  movement  and  in  physical  garment. 

On  this  subject  one  said: — 


232  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


We  can  also  read  the  thoughts  of  another — con¬ 
ditions  being  favourable — as  readily  as  you  can 
gain  a  knowledge  of  the  characters  of  symbols  of 
a  language  not  your  own.  Thoughts  being  mo¬ 
tions  of  the  mind,  assume  specific  and  definite 
forms,  and  when  distinct  in  the  mind,  can  be  clearly 
perceived  and  understood  by  any  spirit  who  is 
in  sympathy  with  the  mind  in  which  they  are  gen¬ 
erated. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 

THE  orthodox  teachings  make  no  attempt  to 
tell  us  what  becomes  of  children  who  go 
out  of  the  earth-plane  in  infancy.  How 
many  millions  of  mothers  have  had  babies  too 
young  for  speech,  hoys  and  girls  just  able  to  talk 
and  walk,  sink  into  a  dreamless  sleep,  and  having 
kissed  for  the  last  time  the  lips  of  love,  have  seen 
the  little  bodies  lowered  with  tender  hands  into 
the  grave,  and  as  the  earth  fell  upon  the  casket 
have  heard  from  the  lips  of  ignorance  “ashes  to 
ashes,  and  dust  to  dust.”  With  hearts  without 
hope  they  have  gone  back  to  the  house  of  sorrow, 
the  toys,  the  little  bed,  the  vacant  chair,  the  ache  in 
the  heart,  the  tears  that  fall  in  countless  thousands 
of  homes,  and  the  cries  that  go  out  in  the  night  to 
know  where  in  the  vast  universe  the  baby  is,  if  it 
lives  at  all. 

“What  becomes  of  those  who  go  out  in  infancy,” 
you  ask?  “Do  they  develop  in  mind  and  body? 

Shall  we  know  them  and  meet  them  again?  Will 

233 


234  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


they  know  ns?  Is  there  any  one  to  comfort  and 
care  for  them,  and  teach  them?  Do  they  miss  and 
seek  the  mother  love?”  These  and  a  thousand 
more  questions  have  been  asked  in  the  countless 
ages  that  have  gone,  and  are  being  asked  in  every 
desolate  home  in  the  world  to-day. 

Let  me  tell  what  I  have  learned  of  those  condi¬ 
tions  through  many  years  of  speech  with  those  in 
the  after-life. 

I  repeat  what  I  have  said  before  and  shall  say 
again,  for  it  is  the  key  to  comprehension,  that  the 
infant  at  conception  possesses  an  etheric  form,  at 
that  moment  clothed  in  a  physical  garment  or  flesh 
body.  This  etheric  form  is  material,  composed  of 
matter,  and  as  matter  cannot  be  destroyed;  it  fol¬ 
lows  that  etheric  child-body  cannot  by  any  possi¬ 
bility  be  annihilated. 

The  infant  etheric  form  by  the  process  of  disso¬ 
lution  passes  out  of  the  physical  garment  which  it 
took  on  at  the  moment  of  conception,  the  same  gar¬ 
ment  that  it  wore  at  birth,  and  becomes  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  the  next  plane  of  consciousness,  where 
all  is  etheric,  where  nothing  physical  can  enter. 
This  change  may  be  likened  to  an  earth-birth. 
There  are  thousands  of  childless  women,  who  never 
in  earth-life  found  expression  for  the  mother-love. 
These,  with  countless  others  who  find  their  greatest 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 


235 


happiness  in  doing  good  together  with  those  of 
blood  relation,  attend  at  such  a  time  and  take  and 
care  for  the  little  stranger  in  the  new  environment. 

Let  me  give  an  instance  that  came  under  my  per¬ 
sonal  investigation.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that 
children  up  to  about  three  years  of  age  are  able 
to,  and  do  see  spirit  people;  some  have  spirit  play¬ 
mates.  The  instance  I  am  about  to  relate  was  the 
passing  of  a  little  boy,  only  one  week  old,  who 
had  a  sister  a  little  under  three  years  of  age,  with 
whom  I  was  privileged  to  make  an  experiment. 
This  little  girl  night  after  night  saw  the  baby  boy, 
and  described  him;  he  was  in  the  same  room  with 
two  spirit  nurses  in  attendance,  while  another 
woman  was  from  time  to  time  described  as  being 
present.  Again,  this  three  year  old  sister  often 
saw  the  spirit-baby  when  she  was  away  from  her 
home.  On  various  occasions  I  verified  these  state¬ 
ments  by  inquiry  from  those  in  the  after-life  dur¬ 
ing  our  investigation,  and  found  that  what  the  little 
sister  related  had  actually  taken  place.  The 
woman  who  appeared  from  time  to  time  was  the 
grandmother;  she,  assisted  by  two  nurses,  cared  for 
the  little  stranger,  and  on  several  occasions,  be¬ 
fore  he  could  articulate  plainly,  prior  to  his  fourth 
birthday,  I  heard  him  speak  to  me.  This  was  a 
most  valuable  experience. 


236  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


Children  in  the  after-life  are  cared  for  very 
much  as  they  are  here.  There  are  those  who  find 
their  greatest  delight  in  mothering  the  motherless, 
and  teaching  them  words  of  speech  and  wisdom;  so 
under  such  unselfish  care  the  children  reach  mental 
and  bodily  maturity  just  the  same  as  they  would  if 
they  had  remained  in  this  world. 

The  etheric  process  of  development  is  interest¬ 
ing;  children  need  mother-love  no  less  in  spirit 
than  in  earth  life,  and  as  the  mother  sleeps, 
those  in  charge  place  the  etheric  baby-form  close 
to  her  heart,  where  it  rests  absorbing  the  love  so 
necessary  to  its  existence.  We  little  know  how 
close  the  after-life  is,  how  close  its  inhabitants  come 
to  us,  the  influence  they  exert  on  us,  or  the  result 
of  our  thought  vibrations  upon  them.  Then  again, 
as  the  children  grow,  they  keep  in  touch  with  us 
from  day  to  day,  and  when  we  go  out  into  the  after¬ 
life,  they  know  and  greet  us  as  we  enter  the  life  that 
has  no  night. 

There  are  in  the  next  life  kindergartens,  schools, 
colleges,  and  universities  of  learning  just  as  we 
have  here,  and  what  is  more,  the  inhabitants  do  not 
cease  to  study  and  increase  their  store  of  knowl¬ 
edge  when  they  reach  a  certain  age,  but  there  are 
great  lecture  halls  where  the  advanced  ones  teach 
the  supreme  laws  of  Nature,  where  all  are  welcome 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 


237 


and  all  go,  and  so  the  secrets  of  the  Universe  are 
understood.  There  is  but  one  aristocracy  in  the 
life  to  come,  and  that  is  founded  on  the  refinement 
and  development  of  character.  Measured  by  this 
standard,  how  very  poor  are  our  very  rich!  I 
have  often  written  that  the  aristocrats  of  the  after¬ 
life  have  gained  their  position  by  helping  others 
less  fortunate.  They  rise  by  raising  others. 
Those  alone  stand  erect  who  stoop  above  the  lowly. 

Here  is  what  a  sojourner  in  the  next  plane  has 
said  of  the  little  ones: 

“Many  people  have  puzzled  as  to  the  state  and 
condition  of  young  children  in  the  spirit  world, 
and  it  is  on  that  subject  that  I  desire  to  speak, 
more  particularly,  to-night.  There  are  millions 
of  young  children  of  all  ages  passing  into  the 
spirit  world  every  year.  Some  of  them  are  of 
very  tender  age,  while  others  know  right  from 
wrong.  It  is  an  interesting  subject  to  inquire  as 
to  what  they  do  in  the  spirit  life.  At  the  outset, 
I  must  tell  you  that  there  is  a  divine  law  in  the 
spirit  world,  that  whosoever  passes  into  that  king¬ 
dom  before  he  has  reached  to  man’s  estate  upon 
the  earth-plane,  shall  grow  mentally  to  the  stature 
of  a  man.  You  can  gather  from  that  that  the 
youngest  child,  even  the  infant  which  has  been 
taken  from  you,  will  grow  mentally  and  spiritually 
on  the  other  side  of  life.  Clairvoyants  and  others 
have  often  described  young  children  in  the  spirit- 


238  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


life,  who  have  been  recognized  by  mothers  and 
fathers;  they  perhaps  years  after,  have  been  some¬ 
what  astonished  to  hear  of  the  child  looking  much 
older,  and  they  have  not  been  able  to  account  for 
it.  You  will  understand  that  the  presentation  of 
the  spiritual  form  is  in  order  that  those  in  the  flesh 
may  be  able  to  see  them  through  the  physical 
senses,  and  to  note  that  they  appear  to  be  grow¬ 
ing  toward  manhood  and  womanhood.  I  am 
afraid  that  many  people  upon  your  earth- plane  to¬ 
day  are  neglectful  of  their  responsibilities  to  their 
children.  If  God  has  given  you  such  a  flower  as 
a  child,  it  is  incumbent  upon  you  by  example  and 
precept  to  train  that  child  in  spiritual  things,  so 
that  ultimately  he  will  be  with  you  in  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven  and  will  rejoice  in  the  knowledge  that 
you  guided  him  spiritually  when  an  infant.  But 
how  careless  are  many  people  with  their  children! 
They  forget  that  the  child  is  all  the  time  taking 
note,  not  of  what  they  are  saying,  but  of  what  they 
are  doing.  I  assure  you  that  if  you  are  unmind¬ 
ful  of  your  responsibilities  toward  your  children, 
you  will  undoubtedly  have  to  pay  the  penalty  when 
you  reach  the  spirit  side  of  life.” 

Too  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  going 
out  of  children;  the  world  has  little  knowledge  on 
that  subject.  No  greater  blessing  can  come  to  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  every  nation  and  tribe  than 
to  know  that  children  with  bodies  too  frail  to  carry 
them  through  the  earth-life  are  not  lost  in  going 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 


239 


from  among  us,  but  in  the  other  life  go  right  on 
with  their  growth  and  development  under  the  care 
and  guidance  of  good  men  and  women  who  for  love 
of  humanity  do  the  necessary  work,  and  so  enrich 
themselves. 

I  am  impressed  not  to  leave  this  subject  without 
a  word  of  warning  to  do  no  murder.  Know  that 
at  the  moment  of  conception  out  of  the  mass  of  the 
universal  good,  out  of  the  life  mass,  an  etheric 
atom,  a  body  infinitesimal  in  size  and  perfect  in 
form  is  clothed,  and  no  matter  whether  the  phys¬ 
ical  birth  is  natural  or  premature,  that  life-force  so 
individualized  has  commenced  its  journey  back  to 
God,  and  all  the  power  in  all  the  Universe  cannot 
change  its  ultimate  destiny. 

I  am  told  that  into  the  after-life  countless  mil¬ 
lions  of  children  have  come  and  are  coming  who 
have  never  had  the  advantage  of  a  natural  phys¬ 
ical  birth  and  earth  experience  so  necessary  to  their 
development,  but  that  heartless  mothers  by  abortive 
acts  and  with  the  aid  of  dastard  physicians  have 
done  and  are  doing  countless  murders,  more  ter¬ 
rible  in  result  than  the  taking  of  the  life  of  a 
man,  because  the  unborn  infant  is  so  weak  and 
helpless.  If  this  knowledge  shall  cause  any 
mother  to  spare  the  life  of  her  unborn  child,  blood 
of  her  blood,  and  bone  of  her  bone,  or  the  physi- 


240  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ician  to  pause  in  his  criminal  act,  sorrow  untold 
will  pass  both  by. 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  described  perhaps  better 
than  she  knew  in  her  “Ballade  of  the  Unborn 
Dead”  the  natural  and  logical  result  of  child  mur¬ 
der 

“They  walked  the  valley  of  the  dead, 

Lit  by  a  weird  half  light, 

No  sound  they  made,  no  word  they  said. 

And  they  were  pale  with  fright. 

Then  suddenly  from  unseen  places  came, 

Loud  laughter,  that  was  like  a  whip  of  flame, 
They  looked,  and  saw,  beyond,  above, 

A  land  where  wronged  souls  wait 
Those  spirits  called  to  earth  by  love, 

And  driven  back  by  hate. 

And  each  one  stood  in  anguish,  dumb  and  wild. 
As  she  beheld  the  phantom  of  her  child. 

Yea,  saw  the  soul  her  wish  had  hurled 
Out  into  night  and  death, 

Before  it  reached  the  Mother  world, 

Or  drew  its  natal  breath. 

And  terrified,  each  hid  her  face  and  fled 
Beyond  the  presence  of  her  unborn  dead. 

And  God’s  Great  Angel,  who  provides 
Souls  for  our  mortal  land, 

Laughed,  with  the  laughter  that  derides, 

At  that  fast  fleeing  band 
Of  self-made  barren  women  of  the  earth. 

Hell  has  no  curse  that  withers  like  such  mirth. 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 


241 


‘Oh,  Angel,  tell  us  who  were  they, 

That  down  below  us  fared; 

Those  shapes  with  faces  strained  and  grey, 

And  eyes  that  stared  and  stared; 

Something  there  was  about  them,  gave  us  fear; 

Yet  are  we  lonely,  now  they  are  not  here.’ 

Thus  spake  the  spectral  children;  thus 
The  Angel  made  reply: 

‘They  have  no  part  or  share  with  us, 

They  were  but  passers  by.’ 

‘But  may  we  pray  for  them?’  the  phantoms 
plead; 

‘Yea,  for  they  need  your  prayers,’  the  Angel 
said.” 

“I  want  to  tell  you,”  a  teacher  in  the  after-life 
said,  “of  a  little  waif  that  came  to  us  in  infancy. 
We  taught  and  carefully  guarded,  and  schooled  her 
in  the  pure  conditions  of  our  sphere  until  she  ap¬ 
proached  womanhood,  but  she  had  no  contrasts, 
therefore  she  could  not  judge  of  the  relative  purity 
and  delights  of  her  environment.  In  order  that  she 
should  be  able  to  enjoy  her  home  and  the  glories 
of  our  world,  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  have  a 
knowledge  of  earthly  conditions.  And  so  I  was 
instructed  to  conduct  this  child  back  to  earth  from 
time  to  time.  When  this  child  first  returned  to 
earth  and  was  among  your  people,  she  could  hardly 
endure  even  to  examine  the  gross  conditions,  and 


242  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


could  not  understand  how  people  could  exist  in 
such  dark,  crude  elements.  But,  as  I  led  her  along 
from  one  condition  to  another,  over  the  road  she 
would  have  gone  had  she  remained  on  earth  for 
the  ordinary  allotted  period,  I  said  to  her:  ‘Had 
you  lived  your  time  in  the  body,  you  would  have 
been  in  the  condition  in  which  you  see  these  peo¬ 
ple.’  I  also  told  her  that  they  would  look  gross 
to  her  when  they  reached  the  spirit  state,  but 
that  in  course  of  time  they  would  improve  enough 
to  assume  the  state  of  purity  and  peace  that  she 
enjoyed.  And  as  we  journeyed  on,  we  met  one 
whose  earthly  experience  had  unfolded,  and  the 
little  lady  said:  ‘That  one  looks  different.’  And 
I  told  her  that  this  one  had  received  a  higher  train¬ 
ing.  And  we  passed  along  to  another  place  in  the 
earth-life  where  there  were  children  of  the  poor 
and  ignorant,  as  well  as  of  the  rich  and  learned. 
And  we  tarried  until  my  little  charge  thoroughly 
learned  the  different  environments  of  children  on 
earth,  and  the  great  contrast  between  their  homes, 
daily  life,  and  schooling  and  those  in  spirit-life. 
This  child  had  never  known  anything  but  innocence 
and  purity,  and  she  was  far  removed  from  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  the  childhood  of  earth.  It 
was  long  before  she  could,  in  any  degree,  recog¬ 
nize  it  as  a  reality. 


FUTURE  OF  A  CHILD 


243 


“And,  having  learned  of  the  methods  of  train¬ 
ing  in  the  institutions  of  earth,  we  pursued  our  in¬ 
vestigations  farther  along;  and,  finally  we  came 
to  where  there  was  a  great  orthodox  church;  and 
there,  unseen,  we  mingled  with  the  congregation. 
She  said:  ‘This  churchhouse  is  not  like  ours  at 
all.  What  is  taught  here?’  Presently  the  serv¬ 
ices  began.  I  told  her  to  listen  attentively  to  the 
minister,  for  here  she  would  get  the  average  expe¬ 
rience  of  the  church  methods  and  be  able  to  see 
wherein  a  great  work,  in  brave  hands,  is  greatly 
needed  on  the  spirit  side.  Then,  the  minister  pro¬ 
ceeded  with  his  discourse  in  his  regular  methodical 
manner,  telling  the  people  all  he  thought  essential 
to  prepare  them  to  enter  higher  realms  of  the 
spirit.  But  the  girl,  now  grown  to  nearly  woman¬ 
hood,  could  not  accept  the  dicta  of  the  minister,  for 
she  had  up  to  now  been  raised  in  the  spirit  world 
and  had  learned  nothing  that  was  in  harmony  with 
methods  attempted  by  the  church  to  enlighten  the 
people  and  prepare  them  for  future  realities. 
Therefore  the  teachings  of  the  minister  seemed  to 
her  so  gross,  so  false,  so  out  of  line  with  all  she 
had  ever  seen,  heard,  or  read  of  in  the  land  which 
had  always  been  her  home  that  she  hesitated  to  re¬ 
main,  but  I  told  her  that  her  future  work  and  wel¬ 
fare  required  that  she  learned  as  much  as  possible 


244  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


of  the  earth  conditions  in  which  your  people  live, 
and  the  kind  of  preparation  such  earth  conditions 
make  for  their  inheritance  in  our  life.  But  the 
more  the  young  lady  heard  of  the  sermon  the  more 
she  disbelieved  it.  In  fact,  it  was  so  much  opposed 
to  what  she  knew  of  the  conditions  on  this  side, 
and  so  different  from  what  preparation  while  on 
earth  for  entrance  to  and  enjoyment  of  spirit  life 
should  consist  that  at  my  suggestion  she  resolved  to 
visit  those  who  had  just  left  the  earth-plane, 
schooled  under  its  teaching,  and  witness  the  effect 
of  it;  we,  therefore,  journeyed  on.” 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


ACTUALITIES  OF  THE  AFTER-LIFE 

AFTER  birth,  death  is  the  greatest  privilege 
that  comes  to  mankind.  If  death  did 
not  occur,  there  would  be  old  age, 
feebleness,  poverty,  pain,  and  suffering  forever; 
with  it,  splendid  life  on  through  the  ages,  prog¬ 
ress,  perpetual  youth  and  vigour.  Such  is  the 
heritage  of  all  who  have  lived,  or  who  shall  live  in 
the  ages  to  come  as  inhabitants  of  this  plane;  such 
are  the  benefits  coming  through  dissolution. 

“Physically  considered,  in  the  final  separation 
of  the  soul  or  spirit  body  from  the  flesh  garment 
there  are  no  discomforts.  As  the  etheric  form  goes 
out  through  the  process  called  death,  pain  ceases, 
and  then  for  a  short  period  comes  what  is  usually 
called  unconsciousness.  During  the  passing  of  the 
soul,  when  the  individual  leaves  the  tenement  of 
flesh,  when  the  spirit  of  man  hurries  forth  from  the 
old  housing,  there  is  no  sensation.  That  period  of 
time  may  be  characterized  as  a  sleep;  then  comes 

the  awakening  the  return  of  sensation,  conscious- 

245 


246  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


ness.  Such  is  the  true  resurrection,  and  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  that  perfect  life,  unattainable  to  an  in¬ 
habitant  of  earth.  After  leaving  the  earth-plane 
the  immortal  has  been  divested  of  the  physical,  and 
progress  is  unlimited.” 

Again,  it  was  my  privilege  to  have  speech  with 
those  living  beyond  my  vision.  The  room  in  my 
house  in  which  I  carried  on  my  experimental  work 
was  intensely  dark;  as  usual  only  Mrs.  French  and 
I  were  present.  The  thought,  before  so  tense,  had 
for  a  moment  become  passive;  then  from  out  of  the 
silence  came  the  deep-toned  voice  of  him  who  spoke 
the  above  quoted  words. 

Ever  alert  to  obtain  the  personal  observations  of 
those  who  have  gone  on,  I  said: 

“I  have  been  told  that  the  after-life  is  intensely 
real  and  that  with  you  everything  is  just  as  tangible 
as  it  was  when  you  lived  among  us.  Tell  me  some¬ 
thing  of  matter  surrounding  and  composing  the 
plane  in  which  you  live.” 

“The  most  learned  scientist,”  he  replied,  “among 
the  inhabitants  of  earth  has  practically  no  con¬ 
ception  of  the  properties  of  matter,  the  substance 
that  makes  up  the  Universe — visible  and  invisible. 
I  did  not  when  I  lived  among  you,  though  I 
made  a  special  study  of  the  subject.  That  which 
you  see  and  touch,  making  up  the  physical  or  tang- 


ACTUALITIES  OF  THE  AFTER-LIFE  247 


ible,  having  three  dimensions,  is  the  lowest  or 
crudest  expression  of  life  force,  and  notwithstand¬ 
ing  my  long  study  of  the  subject,  the  idea  that  the 
physical  had  permanent  etheric  or  life-form,  that 
that  which  you  call  space  was  composed  of  mat¬ 
ter  filled  with  intelligent  and  comprehensive  life 
in  higher  vibration  never  occurred  to  me;  so  when 
I  became  an  inhabitant  of  the  plane  where  I  now 
reside,  I  was  wholly  unprepared  to  grasp  or  com¬ 
prehend  the  material  conditions  of  the  environment 
in  which  I  found  myself.” 

“Tell  me,”  I  asked,  “of  your  awakening,  and 
how  things  appeared  to  you  as  consciousness  was 
restored.” 

“Of  course,”  he  replied,  “there  was  the  meet¬ 
ing  and  greeting  of  my  own  who  came  to  welcome 
me,  as  naturally  as  one  returning  after  a  long 
journey  in  the  earth-life  would  be  welcomed. 
Their  bodies  were  not  so  dense  as  when  they  were 
inhabitants  of  earth,  but  they  were  like  my  own. 
Then  I  was  told  that  my  body  and  the  bodies  of  all 
those  in  that  life  were  actually  the  identical  bodies 
which  we  had  in  earth  life,  divested  of  the  flesh 
covering.  I  was  also  told  that  that  condition  is  a 
necessary  precedent  to  entering  the  higher  life, 
and  that  such  bodies  during  earth  life  had  con¬ 
tinuity  and,  further,  that  in  leaving  the  old,  I  had 


248  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


come  into  a  plane  where  all  was  etheric,  that  is 
matter  vibrating  in  perfect  accord  with  my  spirit 
or,  technically  speaking,  etheric  self.  To  me 
everything  seemed  perfectly  natural  to  sense,  sight, 
and  touch.” 

“Again,  let  me  tell  you,”  he  said,  “that  the  outer 
flesh  garment  is  not  sufficiently  sensitive  to  feel; 
the  etheric  body  alone  has  sensation.  This  I  have 
said  as  leading  up  to  a  clear  understanding  of  what 
I  experienced  in  meeting  the  new  conditions  here. 
I  found  little  body-change — I  had  sensation  and 
vision — and  my  personal  appearance  was  in  no  way 
changed  except  that  my  body  was  less  dense,  more 
transparent  as  it  were,  but  the  outline  of  my  form 
was  definite,  my  mind  clear,  the  appearance  of  age 
gone,  and  I  stood  a  man  in  the  fullness  of  my  men¬ 
tality-nothing  lost  or  gained  mentally. 

What  impressed  me  most  after  the  meeting  with 
my  own  was  the  reality  and  tangibility  of  every¬ 
thing  and  every  one.  All  those  with  whom  I  came 
in  contact  had  bodies  like  my  own,  and  I  recog¬ 
nized  friends  and  acquaintances  readily.  Now  I 
will  tell  you  of  the  one  thing  that  impressed  me 
most  on  coming  here, — that  was  that  matter  in  its 
intense  refinement,  in  its  higher  vibration,  was 
capable  of  intelligent  thinking  and  direction. 
Shape  and  grasp  this  proposition  if  you  can;  I 


ACTUALITIES  OF  THE  AFTER-LIFE  249 


could  not  in  the  beginning — nor  could  I  compre¬ 
hend  at  once  that  all  in  the  Universe  was  life  and 
nothing  else.  This  fact,  which  we  now  know,  will 
overturn  all  the  propositions  of  science. 

In  all  the  orthodox  teachings  of  nearly  two  thou¬ 
sand  years  not  one  law  has  been  given  tending  to 
show  how  it  was  possible  for  individual  life  to 
hold  continuity.  Theology  has  claimed  it  with¬ 
out  explaining  how  or  where.  This  no  longer 
satisfies  the  human  heart  or  mind,  a  fact  which  ac¬ 
counts  for  the  great  unrest  among  your  people  in 
every  land.  For  this  reason  it  has  been  our  aim 
to  explain  the  law  through  which  life  is  continued, 
and  so  simply  to  state  the  facts  and  explain  the  con¬ 
ditions  that  all  may  understand.  The  key  to  com¬ 
prehension  is  first  to  realize  that  your  Earth  does 
not  contain  all  the  matter  of  the  Universe,  that  all 
that  you  see  and  touch  is  but  the  substance  used  by 
life  in  growth.  When  one  leaves  the  earth-condi¬ 
tion,  divests  himself  of  the  physical  housing,  he, 
through  such  change,  ceases  to  be  mortal.  By  be¬ 
coming  a  resident  of  the  new  sphere  he  is  said  to 
take  on  immortality,  but  in  reality  he  has  always 
been  immortal.” 

“You  regard  the  telephone  as  wonderful,”  he 
said,  “wireless  telegraphy  more  wonderful  still — 
but  we  communicate  with  each  other  by  simple 


250  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


^thought  projection.  You  regard  the  phonograph 
as  a  marvellous  instrument,  but  it  is  crude  beside 
the  instruments  in  use  among  us.  When  you  ap¬ 
preciate  the  truth  that  we  live  in  a  state  no  less  ma¬ 
terial  than  your  own,  you  will  understand  that  with 
our  greater  age  and  experience  we  are  much  in  ad¬ 
vance  of  you,  and  make  and  use  appliances  and  in¬ 
struments  that  could  hardly  be  explained  to  mortal 
mind.  At  some  other  time  I  may  be  permitted  to 
discuss  this  subject  more  fully.” 


CHAPTER  XXV 


RATIONAL  DEDUCTIONS 

THERE  is  not  in  the  universe  a  single  great 
problem  that  man  can  truthfully  say  he  has 
mastered,  that  nothing  remains  to  be  found 
out  concerning  it.  The  laws  that  control  this 
world  are  universal  and  in  force  in  other  spheres 
as  well  as  in  this;  they  control  all  solar  systems 
and  worlds  in  space;  therefore,  a  complete  com¬ 
prehension  of  those  laws  and  their  application  re¬ 
quires  more  than  mortal  life.  If  this  were  not  so, 
perfection  would  be  practically  immediate  and 
without  process,  and  men  would  become  gods  here 
and  now.  The  most  brilliant  men  who  ever  lived, 
knew  but  little  of  natural  laws  and  of  the  origin 
and  destiny  of  man.  Until  now  little  effort  has 
been  made  to  find  them  out. 

The  earth  is  yet  so  crude,  our  senses  are  so  dull 
and  our  vision  so  limited,  that  we  fail  to  realize 
those  emanations  and  movements  of  refined  matter 
about  us,  or  the  subtle  and  incessant  play  of  forces 
around  us.  From  a  single  ray  of  light  shoot  mil¬ 
lions  of  electrons  and  corpuscles,  the  basic  constit- 

251 


252  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


uents  of  matter,  smaller  than  the  atom  of  hydro¬ 
gen;  these,  striking  blow  upon  blow,  pass  by  and 
through  us  in  their  incessant  warfare  with  the 
night,  but  we  feel  them  not. 

We  do  not  realize  the  quivering  and  bending  of 
the  earth’s  crust  under  our  feet,  caused  by  changes 
of  temperature  or  the  pressure  of  atmospheric 
waves,  nor  do  we  hear  the  fermentations  and  oxida¬ 
tions  of  the  soil  in  the  changing  seasons.  We  do 
not  even  yet  know  the  exact  nature  of  that  ether 
which  a  recent  investigator  considers  omnipresent 
and  omnipotent.  We  see  the  action  of  gravitation, 
but  know  nothing  of  the  medium  through  which  it 
operates.  We  hear  the  wind  soughing  among  the 
trees;  but  we  do  not  hear  the  roar  of  sap  up  trunk 
and  branch,  the  bursting  of  the  buds  as  they  bom¬ 
bard  the  air,  or  the  speech  of  growing  trees  and 
flowers  and  grass  among  themselves;  yet  life,  wher¬ 
ever  found,  has  language. 

The  vibrations  from  out  the  abyss  of  space  would 
reach  our  ears  if  they  had  more  and  higher  octaves, 
or  if  our  capacity  for  catching  sound  were  immeas¬ 
urably  intensified ;  we  do  not  hear  the  clang  of  the 
planets  as  they  ring  down  through  their  orbits,  the 
explosive  detonations  of  the  sun,  the  wild  dance 
and  chant  of  the  Nebulae,  the  comets’  note  of  warn¬ 
ing,  or  the  rush  of  wandering  matter  of  which 


RATIONAL  DEDUCTIONS 


253 


worlds  are  made,  which  must  send  out  impulses  and 
tremblings  through  the  ether  to  this  planet  of  ours. 
We  are  at  all  times  in  a  great  sea  of  intensely  active 
forces  and  potentialities  governed  by  a  law  of 
which  we  have  little  conception. 

About  us,  but  invisible  to  most,  a  nation,  or 
rather  many  nations,  of  spirit-people,  “live  and 
move  and  have  their  being,”  more  industrious, 
more  active,  more  intellectual,  and  more  ener¬ 
getic,  than  we;  so  intense  is  their  vibration 
that  we  do  not  ordinarily  feel  their  touch,  hear 
their  voices,  or  see  their  forms;  but  conditions 
can  be  made,  and  have  been  made,  whereby,  not¬ 
withstanding  our  limitations,  we  may  have  speech 
with  them,  and  know  at  least  something  of  how 
and  where  they  live,  and  what  they  are  doing. 

There  is  so  much  in  nature  that  we  do  not  un¬ 
derstand,  is  it  any  wonder  that,  having  kept  our 
eyes  so  close  to  the  ground,  we  have  not  discovered 
this  spirit  world  before?  We  have  made  condi¬ 
tions  in  which  it  became  possible  for  us  to  know 
a  little  of  those  other  people,  and,  even  though 
many  have  not  had  this  evidence,  that  does  not 
derogate  from  the  truth  of  the  discovery,  which 
must  forever  stand  as  another  fact  added  to  the 
sum  total  of  human  knowledge.  The  possibility 
of  communication  between  mortals  and  those  in 


254  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  world  of  spirits,  has  been  proven  beyond  doubt; 
and  it  now  remains  for  men  of  genius  to  discover 
new  methods,  and  to  bring  into  this  new  field  of  re¬ 
search,  the  same  intelligent  action  that  is  applied 
to  the  lower  sciences,  thereby  increasing  our  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  spirit  as  they  have  of  the  material 
world. 

Those  who,  through  ignorance  or  prejudice,  de¬ 
cry  a  new  discovery,  and  so  prevent  fair  considera¬ 
tion,  are  enemies  of  civilization.  The  time  has 
come  for  man  to  be  free  and  to  think  alone. 
Neither  the  teachings  of  the  so-called  dead,  nor  the 
conclusions  of  the  living,  can  change  facts  or  nul¬ 
lify  a  single  natural  law.  Truth  has  neither  youth 
nor  age;  it  is,  and  ever  has  been,  a  brother  to 
reason;  it  does  not  need  the  assistance  of  fame  or 
science;  it  has  never  been  in  the  keeping  of  any 
particular  class  of  men;  it  is  the  heritage  of  all 
who  live. 

Let  this  fact  sink  deep  into  every  human  heart: 
the  individual  thought  must  at  all  times  be  kept 
clean  and  pure,  for  this  wondrous  and  ever  active 
mind  of  ours  is  from  day  to  day  throwing  the 
shuttle  through  the  web  of  life,  incessantly  weaving 
the  fabric  of  the  condition  that  will  clothe  the  naked 
soul  on  the  threshold  of  the  after-life,  and  those  in 
the  great  beyond  watch  beside  the  loom. 


RATIONAL  DEDUCTIONS 


255 


From  this  great  source,  I  have  learned  and  know 
that  the  bridge  of  death  no  longer  rests  upon  the 
clouds  of  hope,  but  upon  great  piers  of  knowl¬ 
edge,  and  the  heart  applauds  the  brain  when  one 
works  to  increase  the  force  of  universal  good. 
Matter  is  eternal,  only  form  is  new,  and  one  who 
but  yesterday  in  the  flush  of  health  faced  the 
storms  of  life  with  splendid  courage,  and  whose 
body  lies  to-night  in  the  embrace  of  mother  earth, 
is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  All  that  was  matter, 
as  we  use  the  term,  the  outer  garment,  all  that  gave 
him  physical  expression,  will  mingle  with  the  sub¬ 
stance  from  which  it  was  formed;  but  his  spirit  is 
eternal,  his  progression  will  be  unbroken,  and  his 
horizon  will  widen  as  he  reaches  the  sphere  be¬ 
yond.  I  know  that  to  the  limits  of  that  plane  in 
which  he  lives  at  first,  the  human  voice  will  carry, 
the  thought  will  reach.  The  so-called  dead  live 
here  about  us,  know  our  sorrows,  and  grieve  with 
us.  They  share  our  happiness,  they  know  our 
hopes  and  ambitions,  and,  by  suggestion,  through 
our  subconscious  brain,  they  influence  our  daily 
conduct.  I  know  that  every  hope,  ambition,  and 
desire  of  earth  is  continued  beyond  this  life,  as  is 
also  the  burden  of  wrong.  I  know  that  we  are  as 
much  spirit  now  as  we  ever  shall  be;  that  in  death, 
so-called,  we  simply  vacate  and  discard  the  gross 


256  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


material  that  gives  us  expression  in  this  physical 
plane.  All  about  this  material  world  of  ours,  and 
in  it  there  exists,  in  fact,  the  psychic  or  spiritual 
universe,  more  active  and  real  than  this,  peopled 
with  all  the  so-called  countless  dead,  who  have 
never  died,  who,  no  longer  burdened  with  a  phys¬ 
ical  body,  move  at  will  within  the  boundaries  of 
their  sphere,  and  ours  in  what  appears  as  space  to 
mortal  man. 

Their  life  is  an  active  one.  All  the  new  con¬ 
ditions,  all  the  great  laws  by  which  they  are  to  be 
governed,  must  be  learned,  and  only  by  individual 
effort  can  they  live  intelligently  and  well.  I  know 
that  a  wrong  act  in  earth-life  must  be  lived  over 
again  in  the  next,  and  lived  right,  before  advance¬ 
ment  is  possible;  that  the  labour  is  often  long,  but 
that  families  and  friends  are,  in  time,  reunited  and 
take  up  the  thread  where  it  was  broken.  I  have 
heard  them  talk  among  themselves  and  to  me; 
many  eminent  men  and  women,  upon  my  invita¬ 
tion,  have  heard  the  same  that  I  have  heard  in  the 
material  conditions  that  we  have  made.  I  know 
something  of  the  democracy  of  death,  and  that  all 
mankind  is  beginning  to  hear  and  march  to  the 
silent  music  of  reason.  I  know,  too,  that  the  high¬ 
est  duty  of  every  one  is  to  contribute  what  he  can  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  many;  one  rich  in  worldly 


RATIONAL  DEDUCTIONS 


257 


goods,  may  be  mentally  poor  in  a  land  of  oppor¬ 
tunity,  and  this  individual  life  of  ours,  whether  it 
has  had  birth  within  the  palace  or  the  hut,  no  mat¬ 
ter  how  it  turns  and  curves  and  falls  among  the 
hills  as  it  courses  from  the  mountain-tops,  through 
valley-lands,  lying  at  times  in  stagnant  pools  of 
ignorance  and  vice,  festering  in  the  sun,  must  some 
day  reach  the  great  ocean  of  eternal  life,  from 
whence  it  came,  clean  and  pure.  We  should  ever 
look  with  eager  eyes  for  gems  of  truth,  and  what 
we  find,  we  should  have  have  the  courage  to  ex¬ 
press. 

Some  mortal  lives  are  so  lived  that  they  stand 
out  like  trees  aflame  along  the  green  and  wooded 
shore  where  waters  beat  with  endless  wave;  others, 
like  undergrowth  within  the  endless  forest,  remain 
unknown,  but  each  must,  according  to  the  immut¬ 
able  laws  of  progression,  at  some  time,  obtain  per¬ 
fect  development,  which  is  the  heritage  of  all: 
this  is  the  law  of  life. 

I  know  that  in  the  kingdom  of  the  mind  there  can 
be  no  personal  dictation;  that  there  is  no  God  but 
universal  good ;  no  Saviour  but  one’s  self ;  no  trinity 
but  matter,  force,  and  mind. 

I  see  good  in  every  act  of  kindness,  in  all  the 
words  of  wisdom  that  fall  from  human  lips,  and  to 
me  all  the  good  in  all  the  world  is  God. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


A  TRIBUTE 

ON  June  24,  1912,  at  her  home  in  Roches¬ 
ter,  New  York,  Emily  S.  French,  the 
most  perfect  psychic  of  modem  times, 
left  this  world  of  ours.  She  had  passed  on  life’s 
highway  the  stone  that  marked  four  score  and 
more,  and  weaiy  with  the  burden  of  good  deeds 
and  many  years,  she  crossed  the  golden  bridge 
from  life  to  life. 

On  that  June  day  as  I  stood  where  all  that  was 
mortal  of  my  friend  was  being  put  away,  memory 
flashed  back  to  a  previous  time.  I  saw  the  open 
grave  of  my  mother,  I  felt  again  the  biting  winds, 
and  the  chill  of  another  death, — a  sensation  bom 
of  ignorance, — and  I  recalled  my  early  resolution 
to  solve  the  problem  of  dissolution.  Again  I  stood 
apart,  about  me  hills  and  valleys  crowned  and  car¬ 
peted  with  green,  winding  roads,  lakes  and  streams, 
trees  and  shrubs  and  flowers,  and  when  the  casket 
was  lowered,  the  sun’s  rays,  rich  and  warm,  fell 
upon  it,  and  birds  sang  merrily  in  the  trees.  With 

268 


A  TRIBUTE 


259 


joy  in  our  hearts,  we  among  the  many  who  came  to 
bid  Mrs.  French  God-speed,  turned  homeward,  for 
this  good  woman — one  among  millions — had  gone 
to  the  next  life  with  absolute  knowledge  of  what 
conditions  were  to  come.  She  knew  that  death  was 
not  the  end,  but  the  open  door. 

“Glad,”  one  asks,  “that  she  has  gone?”  Yes, 
for  it  is  the  most  glorious  privilege  possessed  by 
mankind,  after  a  long  and  eventful  career,  when 
the  shadows  lengthen,  to  pass  to  more  intense  and 
comprehensive  life. 

Mrs.  French  was  bom  possessed,  of  what  Crookes 
has  termed,  “Psychic  Force”;  from  infancy  she 
had  unusual  abilities.  She  could  not  remember  a 
time  when  she  was  unable  to  see  people  and  hear 
voices  which  were  neither  seen  nor  heard  by  others; 
for  this  reason  she  was  in  childhood  thought  pe¬ 
culiar.  There  came  a  period  in  her  young  woman¬ 
hood  when,  with  a  pencil  in  each  hand,  she  would 
write  on  different  subjects  simultaneously,  easily 
conversing  at  the  same  time.  Automatic  writing 
was  not  then  known  or  understood,  and  the  sug¬ 
gestion  that  the  beyond  was  inhabited  by  people, 
just  as  this  world  is,  had  not  dawned  upon  our  men¬ 
tality.  Afterward  there  came  in  her  presence, 
under  certain  conditions,  independent  voices,  that 
is,  a  way  was  found  by  which  the  vocal  organs  of 


260  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


the  dead,  so-called,  could  be  and  were  clothed, 
so  that  they  spoke  audibly  in  our  atmosphere,  and 
in  this  manner  came  the  discovery  of  another  plane 
inhabited  by  all  the  countless  dead,  where  indi¬ 
viduality  is  actually  continued — a  world  as  real 
and  tangible  as  this. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  meet  Mrs.  French 
early,  and  the  compact  then  formed  was  faith¬ 
fully  kept  to  the  end.  She  was  as  anxious  as 
I  was  to  understand  the  play  of  forces  in  her  pres¬ 
ence,  and  without  payment  she  freely  gave  her  time 
and  strength  that  through  her  instrumentality  good 
might  come,  not  only  to  those  living  here  but  also 
to  those  in  the  great  beyond.  The  idea  of  accept¬ 
ing  money  for  such  service  was  abhorrent  to  her, 
and  she  devoted  her  life  to  the  liberation  of  the 
mind,  that  the  mental  bonds  of  superstition  might 
be  broken,  and  that  mankind  might  become  better 
by  living  more  intelligently. 

Her  work  gave  the  world  a  new  discovery,  and 
her  labour  opened  the  door  to  the  Unknown  Land. 
Her  love  went  out  to  those  in  sorrow — to  the  un¬ 
fortunate,  the  rich,  the  poor,  and  the  ignorant,  and 
yet  with  her  great  power  she  was  a  child,  sincere 
and  frank  and  full  of  hope  as  spring,  and  she  ever 
borrowed  sunshine  of  to-morrow  to  make  the  pres¬ 
ent  glad.  She  saw  into  the  great  beyond  where 


A  TRIBUTE 


261 


the  modes  of  motion  were  too  rapid  for  physical 
sight;  she  knew  the  needs  of  others,  and  her  chari¬ 
ties  encompassed  them,  and  as  the  years  passed, 
and  the  results  became  more  apparent,  the  censure 
of  this  little  world  failed  to  sting.  Her  span  of 
earth’s  life  was  exceedingly  long.  For  many  years 
her  physical  ear  failed  to  catch  sounds;  she  grew 
refined  and  delicate  as  her  life  force  ebbed.  Some 
years  before  her  dissolution  she  became  blind,  and 
all  the  beauty  of  the  physical  world  was  shut  out, 
but  still  our  wonderful  work  went  on.  Toward  the 
end  she  became  weary  with  well-doing,  and  met  the 
change  with  confidence  and  courage. 

Mrs.  French  passed  into  the  next  world  gladly, 
for  her  physic  sight  had  already  beheld  the  glories 
of  her  new  home;  she  had  more  friends  there  than 
here,  and  she  had  often  heard  the  voices  of  the 
husband,  who  gave  his  life  that  the  union  might 
be  preserved,  and  of  her  son  who  passed  just  as 
manhood  touched  the  noon  of  life.  She  went  not 
as  a  stranger  into  an  unknown  land,  but  as  one 
familiar  with  the  way,  for  just  across  the  border, 
there  waited  with  outstretched  hands  and  words 
of  welcome  countless  thousands  who  had  been 
helped  through  her  effort. 

The  memory  of  Emily  S.  French  comes  like  a 
benediction.  Over  every  cradle  Nature  bends 


262  THE  DEAD  HAVE  NEVER  DIED 


and  smiles,  and  at  this  second  birth  it  does  the 
same.  She  made  me  her  friend  by  being  honest; 
I  made  her  my  friend  by  being  fair,  and  so  we 
worked  for  twenty  years  and  more  to  learn  how  to 
expel  the  fear  of  death  from  the  human  heart. 
She  grew  old  as  we  count  time,  feeble  in  body  and 
blind;  yet  her  courage  and  devotion  never  waned, 
and  at  the  end  she  smiled  and  met  the  dawn  of 
everlasting  life. 

She  was  an  instrument  through  which  a  great 
group  worked.  In  her  presence  with  the  neces¬ 
sary  conditions  the  people  in  the  next  plane  spoke, 
and  never  again  can  it  be  said,  “The  dead  know 
not  anything.” 

I  cannot  give  out  the  knowledge  gained  through 
Mrs.  French’s  instrumentality  without  paying  this 
tribute  to  her.  She  was  the  noblest  woman  I  have 
known;  she  was  both  honest  and  brave;  she  en¬ 
riched  herself  by  aiding  others.  She  helped  to 
stay  the  tears  that  fell  from  furrowed  cheeks  and 
looked  with  pity  on  ignorance  and  superstition. 
She  came  to  know  that  all  wretchedness  and  pomp 
lose  distinction  in  the  democracy  of  death  and  that 
only  character  survives.  To  her  in  the  great  be¬ 
yond  where  she  now  resides  I  send  my  love. — We 
shall  meet  again. 


THE  END 


